Directed by Kevin Lewis; written by Zach Imbrogno; starring Ron Livingston, Rachel Bilson, Rob Riggle, Arden Myrin, Thomas Lennon
Plot Summary
A family from "the city" moves to the suburbs and has to contend with their neighbors who are really into Christmas. And murder. And crypto.
Characters
Mark (Livingston) - Father City-boy, a man of the city, a simple creature, a moron
Julie (Bilson) - Mother City-boy, I don't know what the fuck her deal was
Santa (Riggle) - Technically "Drunk Santa" in various credits and lives up to that
Carol (Myrin) - Mother Kringle, a bright stab of sunshine in this bleak winter fare
Nick (Lennon) - Father Kringle, fairly manic and doing his own thing
Setting
The suburbs, mostly the Kringle house of Christmas horrors
Thoughts
Moving the week before Christmas? - I was waiting the whole move for a secret to come out as to why our main "normal" family moved the week before Christmas. There's none. They just did it to make things harder.
"The City" - Very little reference as to which city. I don't fuckin' know.
Kringles come on hard and ghetto talk - A welcome attitude and a big smile will get you far in life, but the Kringles roll across the street with Christmas music and it's really hard to watch and at this moment I felt I wished I had saved this for a "hangover on the couch Sunday" viewing party
Riggle stealing this movie - No more note, he's doing his thing and it works for what this is.
Mark's motivation is "get laid" - I kinda hated Ron Livingston's sad dad character whose main motivation is to have sex with his wife. This is sitcom levels of motivation.
Mama K by the tree? - Beverly D'Angelo should not have to do work like this if she needs the insurance. I'll donate money directly to her.
Gross eating - I'm just pointing this out because I stopped noticing a lot about this movie and my mind wandered a bit until this brought me back.
Fucks up with Elf? - WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CHARACTER?!?! It made me mad the longer it went.
Valentine's? - When the movie shifted to Valentine's Day, it lost me. Valentine's Day at the Kringles.
Crazy man with a chainsaw - Lennon made me laugh here.
Jangles - When the script breaks out a gimp, abandon all hope.
This is Hook - There's a moment when Lennon's Nick talks to Bobby just like Captain Hook did to Robin Williams's kid in that movie, and I wanted to make a comparison but did not care.
"Fuck that shit, Bobby" - Genuine hard laugh when Riggle said this. Just hit right.
Discussion Questions
In the movie, the main character of Mark is a father. Why?
Have you ever had neighbors you wish had a secret gimp? What were they like?
At which point do you give up on a movie packed with people you love? Ten minutes or allow the sunk cost fallacy to sink in?
Should I have made the Hook comparison? Are you still reading this? Comment "Jangles blows" if you are wherever you are reading this.
Close-ups of eating really make my stomach turn, as do sounds of chewing/slurping/mouth sounds. That's all.
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