Um. Natal. Surreal.

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.

...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 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.

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.

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.