Four Cousins and a Christmas

Most of us can identify with at least one character in this story. Mine was with the youngest cousin. I went though the same thing 53 years ago, and it's disheartening that things have not changed much since then. My heart broke for her. My heart also broke for her sister who had a loss I can identify with. So, yah, why do I love this movie that breaks my heart so? Because, just as the last line of the film states: "I Love My Family".

This was just a weird movie - and not in a good way. The 4 cousins ranged from boring and uninteresting to terrible and annoying.

One of the most grating parts of the movie was when there were scenes with the cousin who was supposed to be a comedian, they had this Seinfeld rip-off music as the soundtrack. Not sure whose decision that was, but they should be drummed out of the business.

And, I'm not sure if it was the director or the editor or who, but it had weird cuts, and camera angles. Really strange scenes with these awkward pauses where I kept expecting some untoward thing to take place - like one of the uncles would end up molesting a niece.

Terrible directing, editing, acting and dialogue. Other than that...

What an awful family! I wouldn't want them to even attend, let alone sing at my funeral.

This isn't the nice and sweet Christmas film that we usually get and maybe that's what they were going for, which would explain why they chose the scariest (Yes including Sloth) Fratelli brother (The Goonies - 1985) to be the grandfather and gave him a terrible wig to boot.

It starts off pretty shrill and girly even before it really gets in to it.

The family tree at the beginning did help as there seemed to be a cast of hundreds, but sadly it continued to prove that Whine was the right word! (In the USA it's called Pizza And Whine). What a miserable b!tch the leading lady was.

She, among others, was quite childish and even the way it was laid out, the freeze frames and narration made it feel like it was aimed at pimply teenagers.

There wasn't even any hotties to look at. The guy with the abs didn't have the face to back them up and is obviously gay in real life, he should have got together with Seb instead, which might have made it more realistic, although Seb was what I call a vile gay. And Casper was just a freak! I didn't understand if it was deliberate or if he was sleeping with the director? The best character was Uncle Tommy.

There were many points where I nearly turned it off, however as it was so short I stuck with it, but I really wish that I hadn't lost that time.

Overall I'd say that it was absolutely ridiculous and the soundtrack was insane.

It's far too miserable for a Christmas film and not made in that Christmassy way. It was also a depressing story, which could actually have been set in the middle of July and no one would have noticed.

Poor, poor, poor!

0.25ish?/10.

The story was great, I loved the realness of seeing how sometimes families only get together under those sad circumstances. The whole cast seemed to be casted perfectly for each role, I believe all the actors did a wonderful job portraying each character and you can really tell a difference between each as an individual. My favorite character would probably be Jennifer, the way she was holding a grudge against her grandfather but in a "I'll forgive but won't forget" kind of way because at the end of the day it is still family. I first heard of this movie because of Teri Polo. I grew up watching The Fosters so she definitely caught my attention!

An amazingly heartfelt film to watch during the holiday season (or even in the dead of Summer, like myself)! The story's diverse characters contain members found in almost everyone's family, and provide amazingly realistic performances depicting the all-too relatable struggle of gathering for the holidays; not to mention, doing so while mourning the loss of a member of the family.

With the inevitable tension between a few relatives, sibling/cousin rivalries, and family drama dragged out for decades, the triumph of familial love and support during difficult times reminds viewers that blood is thicker than water (and even wine).

This chaotic family dynamic is gorgeously portrayed by a cast with such incredible chemistry, you would assume they are actually related. The story is written so well, it has inspired me to reach out to all of my family members to tell them I love them. Kudos to the cast and crew for creating such an impactful piece!