Surviving Christmas
All Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) is a little companionship for Christmas. His girlfriend has just left him while all his friends are busy during the holiday season. A short conversation with a therapist leads him to his childhood home where he convinces the family now living there to welcome him into their home for $250,000. But with the money comes certain conditions which includes reliving Christmas the way Drew remembers it. It pushes the Valco family led by James Gandolfini to the brink and eventually have to choose between happiness and wealth.

This idea of hijacking Christmas could have had potential if it were in the context of another situation. But this one, in which a rich, crazy person wreaks havoc on the family sucks whatever fun could have been had. Affleck is a one-trick pony when it comes to acting and comedian he is not. Stick to smart-alecky action star please. Gandolfini essentially plays his Sopranos role and that's fine. Catherine O'Hara tries to bring comedic class to the role but that photo shoot scene was so out-of-place, which pretty much speaks for the entire film, especially considering its October release date. 1 star