Parents' Guide to Christmas vs. The Walters

Annoyingly flawed, with flat jokes and a bargain-bin visual style, this holiday-themed dramedy may still brighten the season with its strong main characters and good cheer. The jokes in Christmas vs. The Walters routinely miss the mark. A dog-catcher character is always hungry, and that's supposed to be funny. And a drunk Santa has been done better elsewhere. (Other background jokes, like Diane's kitchen being covered in Post-it notes, are actually funnier, as is a crusty Bruce Dern in his too-few scenes.) Perhaps even worse is the air of first-world problems that this obviously upper-middle-class family has; nothing that goes "wrong" here is of any real consequence.

Despite its characters being well-off, Christmas vs. The Walters has a chintzy look, like old videotape past its shelf-life, that's frequently off-putting. (A flashback sequence establishing Diane's backstory is especially awkward.) And yet, at the center of it all, Smith -- who's best known for the Saw movies -- seems to hold it together, even as she falls apart. She gives a whirly, spunky performance and helps convey a believable family dynamic. It feels like there's a real shared, family history among the characters. And they somehow manage to convey a sweet, lovely holiday spirit that eventually rubs off, especially for those who love Christmas. In the end, even the decorations start to look nice.