Joyeux Noël, Maman!

A Christmas film that finally sheds light on the holiday's unsung heroes - moms. Oh. What. Fun is a behind the scenes look at everything under appreciated things mothers do to create the "perfect" Christmas. Is this movie perfect? Of course not. Like many "Christmas" movies, everything is exaggerated. Another reviewer who complained that the movie took "Christ" out of "Christmas" is true. But many families no longer celebrate the season for religious reasons. This movie is about awakenings and understanding. While it may not become a holiday must see for everyone, moms will appreciate that other people get it:

Oh What Fun is unfortunately a film that never lives up to its appealing poster. The story is extremely simple, the events feel flat, and the overall execution lacks energy or creativity. What makes the disappointment even stronger is seeing a veteran actress like Michelle Pfeiffer in a role that does not suit her talent or her long career. She deserved far better material than what this film offers. Aside from a few light moments, the movie adds little and leaves no memorable impact. A nice poster, but a weak film overall.

The movie is not that bad. I genuinely don't know why or when people started giving 1 star ratings for movies. I rate a movie based on many things. Storyline, acting, music, cinematography, etc. For a movie to receive 1 star would mean it fails across the board.

This movie didn't fail across the board.

Storyline was pretty straightforward. Mom is fed up because she's not appreciated so she leaves and it served as a wake up call for her family to appreciate her and help her.

Acting was fine. Nothing bad or phenomenally good. I will say that everyone seemed to look old. Something about how it's filmed. Everyone looks greasy and wrinkly. Dennis Leary, wow, poster child for why you should use sunscreen. I swear the makeup sunk into every wrinkle.

But everyone was burdened with this "old" look. Even the younger cast members.

I watched it and probably won't watch it again. It's simply not funny enough for me to see it again. I think the classic Christmas movies are better. This one is a little bit sad but if it brings light to how much work women do at Christmas time then it's something everyone should watch at least once.

Oh What Fun leans far more sad than funny, and not in a satisfying way. Michelle Pfeiffer does okay but she is not the warm motherly type so this feels like a huge miscast. The film leans so heavily on constant narration to explain characters and motivations that it starts to feel lazy. If you have to spell everything out instead of showing it, you're making the movie the wrong way and this one never quite finds its footing.

Is it a drama or comedy or heartfelt family story with a little bit of redemption at the end? This movie could've had so much more potential if it had just stuck to a regular formula of dialogue instead of trying to go off in so many different directions. They painted the characters in such strange ways and every time I thought they would stick with one storyline it went off in a totally different direction that didn't make any sense. There was no real backstory to why the mom was so obsessed with Christmas and no buildup to how she got to be the way she was. And the husband/family seemed so beyond clueless as to how he could support and help her. It was just a sad state of affairs and could've been so much better. Also, the resolution and sharpness with the filming on all of Dennis Leary's winkles did not help!