|

Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Surviving Christmas
DreamWorks Distribution LLC
FILM:
MPAA 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)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Deborah Kaplan (also story)
Harry Elfont (also story)
Jeffrey Ventimilia
Joshua Sternin
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Mike Mitchell
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: December 21, 2004
Video: December 21, 2004
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
92 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

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.

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.

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.

50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Another go-round for the premise of an overaged kid insinuating himself into a stranger's family.

40
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Cynical yet mildly amusing Yuletide-season comedy.

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.

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.

38
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Some screwball moments elicit a chuckle or two, but the script is weak and the characterizations clichéd.

38
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Can't decide whether it wants to be a black comedy, dumb farce, or sentimental sit-com.

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.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Absolutely awesome in its relentless mediocrity.

30
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Crust
A dismally formulaic hodgepodge of crude humor and wan attempts to tug at the heart.

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."

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.

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.

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.

25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Bad enough to make even James Gandolfini and Catherine O'Hara seem dull.

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.

20
Variety
Brian Lowry
An almost mirth-free, poorly conceived comedy destined to offer Ben Affleck bashers satchels full of new ammunition.

20
Empire
Dan Jolin
As it is, an unbearably irritating, shouty, gurning Affleck takes the anaemic script and injects it with strychnine.

20
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Affleck may finally have found a use for his obnoxious personality, because Drew is amazingly annoying.

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.

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.

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.

10
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
It's screen comedy at the end of its tether, Capra-corn gone rancid.

0
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
There are no survivors here.

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.

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?"

0
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
This ghastly comedy emits the subliminal whine of a sucking chest wound.


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.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|