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U2 3D
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Transsiberian
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I.O.U.S. A
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To the Limit
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|
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
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