Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

GazerRise Fantastic!

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Robert D. Ruplenas This effort from director Jodie Foster is more disastrous than the family gathering it portrays. The premise - a Thanksgiving get together of a family which is 'dysfunctional' in all the clichéd Hollywood ways - holds ample opportunity for natural comedy, but in this movie every ounce of humor is contrived and forced. And half of it misses the mark because the characters involved are either so pitiful or so unpleasant that we feel no desire to laugh (laughter in the showing my wife and I saw was decidedly spare).The movie goes on and on. My wife caught a much-needed nap in the middle; I thought my watch had broken. "Lawrence of Arabia", at four hours, passes faster than this dog at two.Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning, Bancroft especially, put in heroic efforts and come closest to rising above the material (but not quite).If you're looking for a funny movie about family get togethers, rent National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation". Yes, the humor in that movie is contrived, but it never pretends to be anything else, unlike Foster's effort which aspires toward 'realistic' humor and ends up being more contrived than the Griswold family.An unquestioned flop.

slightlymad22 Plot In A Paragraph: After losing her job, making out with her (soon to be ex) boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) has to face spending the holiday with her family. Director Jodie Foster has assembled a ridiculously talented cast Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning (Whom I love, and am a big fan of) Robert Downey Jr, Dylan McDermott, Steve Guttenberg, Geraldine Chaplin, Claire Danes and Austin Pendleton.However Robert Downey Jr steals this movie from a very talented cast. As Tommy, Larson's gay brother. Although Downey Jr has admitted to regularly using heroin during the filming of this movie, it is not affected performance one bit. Listening to director Jodie Foster on the commentary track on the DVD, it would appear that Downey Jr was a pain to work with the times, as he kept improvising and going off on a whim. So I'm not sure who the praise should be aimed at Downey Jr for being able to give a good performance during such a troubled time in his life, or Foster for getting the performance out of him!!

rzajac The editing focuses on the actors plying their crafts. The actors soar because the writing soars. Well, there may have been other factors contributing to Downey's soaring.And the film flies because the story has a fine, cantilevered arc.If you enjoy fine theater, you'll love this flick. It's interesting: Hollywood pushes a fairly constricted idea of film. I'm not saying Hollywood stinks; it's just important not to think that's all film can be. And "Home for the Holidays" is a fine way to take a break from Hollywood. Give yourself that break; you deserve it.I really don't want to say anything about content. There's so much to recommend the flick, starting with the perfect writing, that it feels like it could almost have any content and somehow be wonderful.

gcd70 A script lacking dramatic weight and humorous bite, along with characters that are just too 'off centre', mean that Jodie Foster's second outing as director is not a terribly memorable one.Holly Hunter, always an enjoyable screen presence, impresses as Claudia Larson, a single mother who finds herself making yet another annual flight to celebrate thanksgiving with her painful family. All this on top of losing her job and discovering that her sixteen year old daughter is about to begin having sexual relations with her boyfriend. Life sucks sometimes! Unfortunately Holly's character is really the only one the audience is going to be able to relate to, or even stomach for that matter. Anne Bancroft's mom is a nightmare of paranoia, dad (Charles Durning) is a nostalgic, rotund old fool who is quite possibly losing his grip, while sister and brother-in-law (Cynthia Stevenson and Steve Guttenberg) are obnoxious and self-centred. Add to this a nutty Aunt (Geraldine Chaplin) and a totally flaky and intensely irritating homosexual brother (a most unlikeable Robert Downey Jnr.) and you find it very hard to feel sympathy for, get involved with, or laugh at any of this sorry lot.The screenplay swings from drama to comedy to romance to tragedy on many occasions, but Foster is unable to gain effect in any of these modes. In the end neither cast nor crew can pick up the pieces of what was really a misdirected project to begin with. My advice......don't bother going "Home for the Holidays."Saturday, May 25, 1996 - Capitol Cinema, Melbourne