Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that kids will probably be bored by this movie when they aren't scandalized by its adult themes: It shows families as many of them really are -- filled with people who are struggling to understand their connection to and love for people they don't understand or really like. There's plenty of swearing, and at oine point Joanne launches into a tirade about how disgusting and perverted it is that her brother is in love with another man. Claudia kisses her boss after being fired. Claudia's teenage daughter announces that she's going to have sex with her boyfriend while her mother's away for the holiday.
Families can talk about any similarities they have to the Larson family. Do you feel disconnected from your family members? What do you do to create closeness and understanding between family members who are very different? Does being different have to mean hating one another? How would you resolve a similar situation? How does Tommy's family in Boston differ from his birth family? How does this movie compare to traditional "holiday classics"? Which do you prefer?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
All hail Claudia (Holly Hunter) for attending her mad, dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner so we don't have to! It's no A Christmas Story, and it's not Normal Rockwell, but that's the appeal of HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, an uproarious but also humane look at a family full of strangers.
Claudia Larson is making the annual migration home for a big family Thanksgiving. But things aren't going well in her life. As she says in a mid-flight message to her brother, "I really wish you were going to be there, kiddo, because I'm sick as a dog, and I made out with my boss, and my kid is going to have sex with a teenager. And then I got fired. Or whatever -- the other way around."
If you think that sounds outrageous, wait till you meet her chain-smoking, chatterbox mother (the fabulous Anne Bancroft); her oblivious, bitter dad (Charles Durning); her gay brother, Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.); her dotty Aunt Gladys (Geraldine Chaplin); her martyr sister, Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson); and Tommy's hot friend Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott). Put them all together with a giant turkey, yammering children, and years of unspoken resentments and longing; mix with alcohol; and you have the ultimate family breakdown. And we're all privileged to watch it.
What director Jodie Foster does brilliantly here is start the story out off-kilter and expertly time it so that the plot lines get more absurd and the dialogue more out of control until you feel like you're on a carnival ride, along for the ups and downs. And of course, since it's not your family, it's funny.
For more crazy holiday films, consider Mixed Nuts and Scrooged (starring the inimitable Bill Murray). For a multicultural turkey-day treat, try What's Cooking. And for a gay-themed look at chosen families, consider Tales from the City.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentClaudia makes out with her boss and, later, with a man she just met. Aunt Gladys admits a crush on her brother-in-law and kisses him during a crazy Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of sexual innuendo. |
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ViolenceClaudia's dad threatens to hit a child, half-jokingly. Tommy, Walter, and Leo get into a fight, and Leo's nose gets broken. |
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LanguageLanguage includes "dammit," "son of a bitch," "holy s--t," "asshole," etc. Joanne lights into Tommy with an anti-gay tirade. |
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Social BehaviorThe movie is a sensitive portrayal of a family full of individuals who don't really know one another and wouldn't be friends if they weren't related. |
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CommercialismJack in the Box gets a shout-out. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoClaudia's mom chain-smokes, and Claudia smokes pot. There's considerable fighting fueled by holiday drinking. |
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