Home for the Holidays (1995)

reviewed by
Mark R. Leeper


                           HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
                      A film review by Mark R. Leeper
                       Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
               Capsule: W. D. Richter's screenplay is a study
          of family relationships.  Some result in conflict;
          others have a nurturing effect.  Jodie Foster's
          second directorial effort starts well and continues
          nearly as good for most of its length, but in the
          end it turns into a feel-good film that does not
          take enough chances.  Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).

Most romantic comedies are about strong, emotionally secure people finding each other. A WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING or a PLAY IT AGAIN SAM may be about someone superficially shy, but you will rarely see a character have serious problems holding his/her life together. Divorcee Claudia Larson (played by Holly Hunter) is to that point. She has lost a job she loved and her sixteen-year-old daughter has confided that this Thanksgiving weekend she is ready to have sex with her boy friend. Claudia is also catching cold and though she hates planes she has to fly from Chicago home to Baltimore. Claudia has lost control of her life just when she has to go through the annual trial of Thanksgiving dinner with her eccentric family. Holly Hunter usually plays self-assured women and her performance makes the freshly written and acted early part of the film the high point. However, as the film starts focusing on more characters and as Claudia finds her way back to peace of mind, the film loses its creative bite. Instead it finds its way to the easy route of a well-worn romantic comedy.

The Larson family is a study in contrasts and odd personalities. Mother Adele (Anne Bancroft) is cold and needling and tries to be always in control. Father Henry (Charles Durning) is a late-in-life romantic finding odd moments to dance with his wife and play the organ, but has lost the capacity to be serious. Brother Tommy (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a consummate but often obnoxious clown. His pranks are amusing for a short time, then start to grate on the characters and the audience. Tommy is gay and has brought a bemused friend (Dylan McDermott) to the party. Sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) is an upwardly mobile yuppie striving for a starchy respectability. Aunt Gladys (a skeletal Geraldine Chaplin) is getting a little strange in several ways at once. They will come together, clown around with each other, get on each other's nerves, and make some painful admissions to each other. The contact will strengthen some relationships and show up weaknesses in others.

Jodie Foster's LITTLE MAN TATE was a heavy-handed and misplaced argument against the fostering of intellect in children. HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS's study in relationships works considerably better while that study is really what it wants to be. It falters only toward the end trying to force a happy ending. Even the chaotic Thanksgiving dinner, the showpiece of the film, manages to show more humanity than farce. Richter's script, based on a short story by Chris Radant, goes a little overboard in some of its characterizations, especially those of Tommy and Adele, and the dialogue is interesting, but not always believable. Nor is it really believable that this family lets so much hang out ata family get-together.

     This is a film that has a lot going for it, but loses points on
trying too hard to have too easy a finish.  I give it a high +1 on the
-4 to +4 scale.
                                        Mark R. Leeper
                                        mark.leeper@att.com

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