Deck the Halls

Every year there is a Christmas movie released, and it's always the typical family friendly flick that gets pretty annoying and predictable, in fact there really hasn't been any good Christmas movies past Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. When I saw the trailer to Deck the Halls, I was so excited, because I'm a fan of Danny and Matthew, they're both great comedic actors and this seemed like a great film for Christmas and how obsessive people are over the holidays.

Steve is a family man who is intending to make the holidays brighter for his depressed kids and over shadowed wife, he is also love by the community. A new family moves in across the street, Buddy and his family are genuinely nice people but rub Steve off the wrong way, especially since Buddy is upset that his house cannot be seen from outer space and figures that Christmas lights will fix that problem. While all the other family members of both guys are getting along great, the guys end up competing with each other to see who will be the Christmas King of the town.

Matthew and Danny who you'd think would be the perfect comedic duo actually didn't spark anything that grabbed me and the jokes were pretty predictable. While this movie was over all a slight disappointment, actually, I'd say there are a few good little laughs her and there, it is a cute Christmas movie, but like I said, just stick with the classic Christmas comedies.

5/10

Film Review: Deck the Halls Cast: Danny DeVito, Mathew Broderick, Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth

It's the festive season and there's a new neighbour in town. Danny DeVito plays the part of Buddy Hall, a cunning family man desperately in need of settling down. It's not easy establishing a home in a new neighbourhood as the Hall family soon finds out, especially with a neighbour like Steve Finch, played by Mathew Broderick.

Finch is a man set in his ways. His desire to control everything around him borders on obsessive-compulsive. At best he is anally retentive; at worst seriously unstable. As the self proclaimed chairman of the Town's Christmas celebrations, Finch feels completely threatened by the arrival of Hall.

Their families get along like a house on fire, but these two alpha males can't see eye to eye on anything. They become fiercely competitive and unwittingly puerile, as each tries to outdo the other. Buddy Hall gets a bizarre notion into his head about adorning his house with sufficient lighting so that it can be viewed from space. He is prepared to do this even if it means arousing the wrath of the Finch family.

This is a weird and wacky tale about Christmas cheer and reconciliation. Naturally there is that inevitable chemistry between DeVito and Broderick. From rivalry to cooperation, this is their story told in the true spirit of the festive season.

The reviews and the comments were quite harsh, so I decided to take the gamble and go see it. Glad I made that decision. I laughed and so did my wife and 13 year old daughter. The 11 year old boy didn't spend nearly as much time laughing.

Some of the funniest scenes are in the trailers, as with the majority of movies, but there were a number of surprises.

It starts out great and does slide downhill just a bit. Maybe they ran out of good material towards the end... Or possibly they wanted to actually make a statement, about the seriousness of Christmas. Either way, I would not pay to see it again, but I would rent it or watch it on TV.

Merry Christmas...

To put it briefly, this was an entertaining movie, gave me a number of laughs and was also extremely stupid and insulting to anyone's intelligence. But, if you look at it strictly as a farce, it will do for a 90-minute diversion. Just don't take any of the characters seriously and try not to get annoyed - which isn't easy - at the typical comedy clichés that are in this movie. And - as some others have pointed out - do not watch this with your kids; it's not "family fare."

Many of the dumb "Hollywood stereotypes" you've endured in comedies the last few decades are in this film. A few examples: the obnoxious kids who say clever things; the typical family story where the men are made to look stupid while the women are smart and sensible; one guy who is a total crook is pictured as sympathetic; things happen in minutes that would take days to occur, unnecessary sex jokes, on and on. Yet, through it all, there are some funny lines of dialog and the Christmas lights on Danny DeVito's house are great fun to see.

This comedy also reminded me a lot of "What, About Bob?" as DeVito slowly drives neighbor Matthew Broderick almost crazy as Bill Murray did to Richard Dreyfuss. I'm told it also was like the National Lampoon's Christmas Story but I never saw that.

What was very interesting were two five-minute featurettes which came with the DVD. In it, is explained and shown how the movie makers built the two houses from scratch, put in all the incredible lights and light show and how it was made to look dark. The story takes place in a mythical town in Massachusetts (where nobody in the film, by the way, has an accent!) but was filmed in Vancouver in July where they were only getting six hours of darkness per night. Most of the film takes place at night so they also built as 60-foot high ark-like building over the two big houses! Incredible!

Great storyline, good looking ladies, veteran actors, all add up to an enjoyable movie. The conflict between DeVito's Buddy Hall, and Broderick's Steve Finch is played excellently from two of Hollywood's veteran actors. Buddy Hall is one of those guys who is always looking for special meaning in his life. When he moves next door to Steve Finch, he thinks he's found it when he decides that he would like for his Christmas lighting to be able to be viewed from space. Unfortunately, Steve just happens to be the "chief" of Christmas lights in his little hamlet, and he develops a quick dislike for all things Buddy. The movie is chock full of pranks that they pull on each other, while their beautiful, and understanding wives tolerate them at best. In the end, the challenge for them both is to discover the true meaning of Christmas in time to save their holidays, and maybe even their marriages. If you like a good sentimental Christmas film, then you'll probably like this one. Lots of funny scenes with plenty of drama mixed in. I give it a solid 8 out of 10 for a Christmas themed film.