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Surviving Christmas

EMAILPRINTDreamWorks Distribution LLC

Surviving Christmas reviews
19
3.4 User Score:

Overwhelming dislike

Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Deborah Kaplan (also story)
Harry Elfont (also story)
Jeffrey Ventimilia
Joshua Sternin

Directed by: Mike Mitchell

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
DVD: December 21, 2004

Running Time: 92 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, language and a brief drug reference

Starring Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara, Josh Zuckerman, Bill Macy, Jennifer Morrison, and Udo Kier

Facing another Christmas alone, Drew Latham (Affleck) decides to go back to his idyllic childhood home to recall the family holidays of his youth. There is, however, one problem: the people living there now are not Drew's family. (DreamWorks)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

63

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

As light, fluffy, cockle-warming holiday entertainment, this thing is pretty sweet.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

There are a few amusing moments, helped by subdued performances from Affleck and Gandolfini, but this is no "Bad Santa" despite its obvious ambition to play similar holiday tricks.

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50

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

This is pseudo-cynical comedy, however, not social satire. All the sharp corners are smoothed over and what's left is little more than a big screen sitcom.

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50

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Another go-round for the premise of an overaged kid insinuating himself into a stranger's family.

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40

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Cynical yet mildly amusing Yuletide-season comedy.

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40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Affleck's psychotic enthusiasm aside, no one seems to be having a good time, and the ill will becomes infectious.

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40

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Just like many real-life holiday get-togethers with the family, this comedy starts out pleasantly enough but degenerates into awkwardness and furtive watch-checking to see how much longer you have to suffer before you can leave.

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38

USA Today Claudia Puig

Some screwball moments elicit a chuckle or two, but the script is weak and the characterizations clichéd.

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38

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Can't decide whether it wants to be a black comedy, dumb farce, or sentimental sit-com.

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30

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As you watch the comedy lurch along, the woozy, sinking sensation it produces suggests a movie slapped together after the consumption of far too many gallons of that spiked eggnog.

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30

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Absolutely awesome in its relentless mediocrity.

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30

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A dismally formulaic hodgepodge of crude humor and wan attempts to tug at the heart.

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25

Chicago Sun-Times Darel Jevens

Pulling off a premise this creepy and cockamamie would require a lot of skill, far more than can be found in the director of "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" and the writers of "A Very Brady Sequel."

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25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Remember that the director, the renowned Mike Mitchell, is the genius who helmed "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo," and be sufficiently generous to accept that such a high level of excellence is hard to sustain.

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25

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Ben Affleck's goose is cooked with Surviving Christmas, a movie that makes "Gigli" look like one of the crowning moments in his career.

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25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Everything about it is manufactured -- the emotions are false, the sentiments are phony, and the story is a construction of mirthless silliness. It's a product, not a creative expression.

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25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Bad enough to make even James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara seem dull.

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20

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Wrenches paltry giggles and cheap warmth from a screenplay that makes "Son in Law" seem like Sam Shepard. But wretched Affleck is the real liability.

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20

Variety Brian Lowry

An almost mirth-free, poorly conceived comedy destined to offer Ben Affleck bashers satchels full of new ammunition.

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20

Empire Dan Jolin

As it is, an unbearably irritating, shouty, gurning Affleck takes the anaemic script and injects it with strychnine.

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20

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Affleck may finally have found a use for his obnoxious personality, because Drew is amazingly annoying.

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12

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's the sort of stupid swill that gets spewed out by a studio committee, slapped together without a brain, a heart, or a good idea about where to put a camera or when to cut a scene.

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10

Newsweek David Ansen

The folks who served up this formulaic swill seem to think comedy grants you a free pass from credibility. Our lonely hero's artificial Yuletide enthusiasm is more than odd: it's not recognizably human.

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10

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A lame comic premise, a tiresome-bordering-on-obnoxious protagonist and a script devoid of humor is a lot to overcome for any movie, and Surviving Christmas is not the one to do it.

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10

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

It's screen comedy at the end of its tether, Capra-corn gone rancid.

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0

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There are no survivors here.

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0

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A crass, shrill and laughless disaster of a holiday comedy with a desperately mugging Ben Affleck that should be banned under the Geneva Convention.

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0

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

So bad you're nostalgic for "Gigli." So painful you need an epidural. So mindless you'll lose yours wondering, "What were they thinking?"

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0

Village Voice Jessica Winter

This ghastly comedy emits the subliminal whine of a sucking chest wound.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 3.4 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan M. gave it a1:
Walking out of this atrocity made me not laugh at the content which was applied in the movie...but the fact that there is someone out there so desperate to revive themselves they'll sink to starring in a movie like this. Ben Affleck had more impressive roles as in such classics as Gigli or Dogma. and yes, the following was sarcasm at its finest.

Susan M. gave it a7:
I actually thought this movie was pretty funny and good, I'm not saying it deserves any Oscars, but I laughed at it a lot and I thought Ben Affleck was pretty good, I don't know why everyone is so against him and everything he does.

D W gave it a9:
Off-beat, but that must be my type of humor because this movie evoked plenty of laughter.

Deth S. gave it a 0:
When a movie takes less than 2 months to be put out on DVD, you know you've got a problem.

Damian P. gave it a 5:
I always go to Christmas movies with low expectations, and this one wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I laughed a few times, which is more than I can say for a few recent comedies. The acting was aweful, though.

Fantasy gave it a 0:
Was this supposed to be a comedy? Not!

Sean P. gave it a 0:
Oh that Affleck!

Read more user comments >

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