The Fitzgerald Family Christmas

Loved this movie! Having grown up Irish on Long Island, in a broken family, I can vouch for its authenticity. From the kitschy plastic Christmas decorations on the front lawn to the tough slang of the brothers, it's L.I. all the way.

In the movie, the father left the family 20 years ago, and now comes back and expects to spend Christmas with his"family" again--his ex-wife and seven children--even though many want nothing to do with him.

The film has a great natural flow, and it's charming throughout. It was great to see Ed Burns again and he's picked a great ensemble for his movie.

I haven't seen many of his movies but plan to catch up.

Written, directed, AND starring... Ed Burns. that's not always a good thing when the same person writes, directs, and stars.. here, Gerry Fitzgerald wants to round up the whole family for a get-together for mom's birthday. just listening to Gerry and mom talk over the plans, it already sounds like a huge passive aggressive fest waiting to happen. typical family shenanigans are about to ensue. except the siblings all bail on Gerry's party. the whole family will get together on christmas in a couple days, and family can only take so much of each other. family emotions, stories, guilt, secrets. and now the father who walked out years ago wants to visit. perfect cocktail for trouble. Connie Britton is nurse Nora, who looks after Gerry's neighbor... and sparks start to fly. it's okay.a bit hallmarkish.

A big family is a catalog of problems, a big family at the holidays is a catalog of problems reaching its boiling point. If you've lived in a big family you know it, if you've seen one or two films about big families, you probably know it too. Here lies the failure of this nice little film. Don't get me wrong, it's fairly well acted, the director choosing a low key approach that suits the genre well, so it's not a catastrophe, in fact it might be a good pastime if you can relate. Thing is the plot is not only loaded with cliché, it's devoid of any refreshing surprise or plot twist. And it tends to solve most of the problems it's looking into in a superficial almost casual manner. An abusive husband, falling for a creepy old man, falling for a girl who's too young for you, everything solved nice and easy, like it was no more than a ploy to cover a few more minutes on screen. It's not a good feeling to end with after a film with which we're suppose to relate.

Lots of Similarities - love the mum in the movie! Always liked Ed Burns! Merry Christmas!

With such an awful title I watched this expecting the usual safe and predictable Christmas movie. In fact in some ways it is quite a bizarre Christmas movie. There are some adult themes, a bit of sex and plenty of swearing.

It is quite a hard film to get into as there are so many characters. My head was spinning each scene as more and more are added. However against the odds this just adds to the unique charm of this movie. The acting is good throughout, the writing is crisp and there are plenty of light moments to offset the serious issues raised.

I watched this with my wife and we both enjoyed it and if you're prepared for a slightly strange but enjoyable Christmas film then this is for you.