 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Home for the Holidays
- Review Date: November 12, 2006
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 1995
Common Sense Media says
Funny, adult look at a dysfunctional holiday.
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
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 one 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.
What's the story?
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS centers on Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter), who is returning 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'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." Claudia's family includes her chain-smoking, chatterbox mom (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 (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.
Is it any good?
All hail Claudia for attending her mad, dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner so we don't have to! This is no A Christmas Story, and it's not Normal Rockwell, but that's its appeal. Home for the Holidays is an uproarious but also humane look at a family full of strangers. 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.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about any similarities they have to the Larson family. How does this movie compare to
traditional "holiday classics"? Which do you prefer?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?
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
AGE
soooooo boring i hate it seriously dont waste any of your precious life on this crappy movie
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AGE
Age 13 and up can and should see this
This is probably the best family holiday movie around. Hunter and Downey's screen presence are amazing. The acting is well executed and every joke happens at just the right moment. It is the perfect example of the trivia we go through with our own families, so while it is a comedy, it also really hits home.
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AGE
iffy, but not 16+.
It's a little iffy but come on, 14-16?
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| Studio: | MGM/UA |
| Director: | Jodie Foster |
| Cast: | Anne Bancroft, Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr. |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 103 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | November 13, 1995 |
| DVD release date: | September 4, 2001 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | thematic material, language and brief drug use. |
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