¡Vaya Navidad!

After reading all these reviews saying how terrible this movie was, I expected it to suck candy canes, but I was pleasantly surprised. Michelle Pfiefer is still a stone cold fox and the rest of the cast did a good job navigating typical Christmas tropes. I felt the movie pulled from alot of classics (Home Alone, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Planes Trains and Automobiles) which left it feeling s bit unoriginal but there were few eye-roll moments and the cast was solid. 7/10 from me.

Look, we have to lower our expectations for holiday movies. They need to be predictable, formulaic and happily ever after. On a Hallmark level, this would be an 8 out of 10. But it's not Hallmark and it has a big cast, so the stakes are higher. This movie could have been so much more -- I am thinking Adventures in Babysitting type adventures! What if the story revolved around the adventure -- Claire getting into all sorts of unexpected situations with people she'd likely never have met -- with very short cutaways to the family fumbling through Christmas without her. I'd like to have seen more connection with Danielle Brooks, for example. I mean, why didn't they ask each other's names? Why couldn't they have enjoyed a movie together in a strange hotel room, leaning into the ridiculousness of their situation? I didn't understand the scene toward the end with Longoria and her staff and Claire -- it felt awkward. Overall, though, the actors were SO GOOD in this movie, which is why it gets 5 stars from me. The problem was the plot line. It was weak I did NOT empathize with Claire at all. She seems self-absorbed, and I would have liked to see her learn a lesson too. Somehow along her journey, finding out that doing things for the sake of doing things, not because she's entitled to gratitude, is what love is all about. Meh.

...Can make a terrible meal.

Oof. This is one bad puppy.

And although I roll my eyes when people ask, "Was this written by AI?" I have to say, that could be true here.

Lots of good actors struggling through an awful script that seemed like a blended combo of "Christmas Vacation", "The Family Stone" and "Dan In Real Life". Ugh.

Even those films had weak spots. The problem here is that they magnified the bad, and undercooked the good.

This movie jumped the shark so many times that I lost count.

What a waste.

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.

After reading some of the low reviews this movie received, I had low expectations. I'm happy to report: this movie was not that bad at all. No, it didn't break any new ground-but who really thought it would? This was solid, feel-good fare with a recognizable cast that understood the assignment. The performances were charming enough, the pacing kept things moving, and the humor landed more often than not. It delivered exactly what a light holiday movie should: something easy to watch, mildly funny, and enjoyable without asking too much of the viewer. A comfortable, pleasant surprise.