 | |
List Price: $29.98 | | Label: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Salesrank: 4526
Released: October 27, 2009 |
| Our Price: $13.88 |
| Used Price: $6.55 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
John Leguizamo (Ice Age, Moulin Rouge!), Freddy Rodriguez (“Six Feet Under,” Bobby), Debra Messing (“Will & Grace,” “The Starter Wife”), and Alfred Molina (The Pink Panther 2) lead a hilarious ensemble cast in this humorous and heartwarming holiday story that is “laugh-out-loud-funny and downright touching." (MoviePictureFilm.com) It’s Christmastime in Chicago, and the far-flung members of the Rodriguez family are converging at their parents’ home to celebrate the season. During the course of this eventful week, traditions will be celebrated, secrets revealed, old resentments forgotten, familial bonds re-affirmed and the healing power of laughter will work its magic. Nothing Like The Holidays is a “heartfelt,” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) gift for the whole family.
Description of Nothing Like the Holidays:
If Nothing Like the Holidays appears to have little in common with Frank Capra's small-town perennial It's a Wonderful Life, Alfredo De Villa's urban dramedy also mixes the bitter with the sweet. The fireworks begin when Eduardo and Anna Rodriguez (Alfred Molina and Elizabeth Peña) welcome their Puerto Rican brood to celebrate Christmas in Chicago: Iraq War veteran Jesse (Illinois native Freddy Rodríguez), struggling actress Roxanna (Death Proof’s Vanessa Ferlitto), and attorney Mauricio (John Leguizamo) and his tightly-wound spouse, Sarah (Debra Messing). While Roxanna finds herself drawn to family friend Ozzy (Jay Hernandez), a former gang-banger, Jesse struggles with his feelings for ex-girlfriend Marissa (Melonie Diaz), who's moved on in his absence, and Anna laments her lack of grandchildren, but when she announces she's divorcing Edy, a bodega proprietor, the entire clan decides to make the most of their last holiday together. If De Villa's intentions are honorable, and his cast is up to the task--especially Molina and Rodríguez--the two halves of his film make for an awkward fit. Jesse's shell-shocked veteran, for instance, belongs to a different movie than that of his wisecracking cousin, Johnny (Luis Guzmán). Then, when Ozzy picks up a gun in an act of revenge, domestic drama and ethnic comedy collide with the hood flick. Unlike the many brash and materialistic entertainments crowding the multiplex at the end of the year, Nothing Like the Holidays prioritizes cultural and emotional matters, but still registers as more of a missed opportunity than a contemporary classic. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Nothing Like the Holidays (Click for larger image)
Nothing Like the Holidays Reviews:
Nothing Like Family for the Holidays... 
2009-12-21 - I have a few biases when it comes to movies like this. I love Christmas and it is hard for me not to like a Christmas movie. With that said, I liked "Nothing Like the Holidays" alot. Family fun "Puerto Rican" style.
Eduardo and his wife, Anna welcome their children home for the "holidays". It's Jesse's first visit home after three years serving in Iraq. Roxanna is a struggling actress and Mauricio is struggling with his career oriented wife. Brought together, the weekend dramedy sets out to reveal secrets of all, all the while exploring the complicated relationships.
I enjoyed this movie greatly, while not my first choice for light holiday fare, it still lights the flame of Holidays. Take a chance you may like it.
Extras:
Audio Commentary, Cast Reunion, Bloopers, Theatrical Trailer
Definitely not a something to revisit 
2009-12-16 - Nothing like the Holidays seems on the surface to have a lot of potential. The cast is quite exceptional and the story of rowdy, dysfunctional, but loving family coming together for Christmas is a frequently used vehicle that can make for a good flick. What emerges is a film that tries very hard but falls flat in a number of areas. The characters are almost akwardly two dimensional and several scenes feel forced and cliche. It wasn't until halfway through the movie that I began to really care what happened and had a desire to see the movie through to the end. Alot of the characters actions are incomprehensible, such as when Jessie kisses Marissa at a Christmas party in full view of everyone, with her boyfriend a few feet away. Also, when Anna decides over Christmas eve dinner to announce to everyone, including her husband, she's getting a divorce and then apologizes for ruining the evening. Couple that with a stream of profanity and vulgar humor (which thankfully relents midway through the film) and this doesn't quite make for a feel-good holiday film to remember. The film is only 90 minutes long but felt like it took hours to tell the tale. In a few scenes we see family photographs that look like photoshopped collages of the individual actors. Perhaps this is almost metaphorical for what is happening in the film. We have several disjointed pieces all kind of smooshed together in an attempt to make a holiday classic. The end result has some warm moments, but ultimately is a film I never want to see again.
Nothing like this movie
2009-12-13 - This isn't a feel-good holiday movie. In fact, you kind of feel bad for this family - and the movie. It's a really odd and uncomfortable assortment of hoodlums, war vet, high-powered hedge-fund managers, and bickering parents. At points, the movie seems to gel and convey a poignant story - particular Debra Messing and her father-in-law. But at other times, it seems as if "Nothing like the Holidays" is torn between several themes and was emotionally confusing. At the end of the day, the movie just tried to include too much and be too many things. That's too bad, because if it had scaled back its ambitions, "Nothing like the Holidays" could have been pretty decent.
Cliched, boring film saved only by the acting
2009-12-08 - Filled with cliches and self-importance, this 98-minute plodding film is nothing more than the Puerto Rican version of The Family Stone (Widescreen Edition).
In Nothing Like the Holidays, the children of Puerto Rican parents descend on their hometown to celebrate the holidays. Each has their own set of problems. The couple played by Debra Messing and John Leguizamo argue about having kids while she harbors a secret from her temperamental husband. Freddy Rodriguez plays the prodigal son, coming home from a tour in Iraq with demons from the battlefield. An odd assortment of other brothers and a sister who is trying hard to make it big in Hollywood make up the rest of the cast.
The formula used was so similar I could have been watching The Family Stone with different actors. The only major difference is that this film features a Puerto Rican family instead. I know this formula as been used previously, but offhand I cannot think of other titles.
The acting is the only thing that saves this cliched film. Unfortunately, the characters are so stereotypical, it shouldn't take much talent to play them. Sometimes, they seemed two-dimensional simply because they were so obvious.
Nothing Like the Holidays is not a comedy, yet not quite a drama. It is a plodding, wasted use of cinematic space. If you've seen The Family Stone, you've already seen this film.
HOLIDAY FILMS ARRIVE
2009-12-02 - Ever since the beginning of film, holidays features have found their way into the hearts and pocketbooks of film goers everywhere. For the most part they have been touching remembrances of winters past, Christmas extravaganzas or touching tributes to family and friends as they gather together to celebrate. But times change and while the family may yet come together, they do so a bit differently as seen in NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS.
The story involves the Christmas get together of the Rodriguez family, a moderately successful group in the Humboldt Park area of west Chicago. This Puerto Rican family does things in a style that stimulates and displays life out loud. And that's a good thing.
Coming together for the first time in ages are all of the children. Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez) has just returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq where he witnessed the death of a fellow solider, blaming himself in the process. Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito) is in from California where the family thinks she's become a major movie/TV star. And Mauricio (John Leguizamo) and his wife Sarah (Debra Messing), a successful white collar couple, are in town as well, all the while questioned by mother Anna (Elizabeth Pena) why they haven't given her grandchildren yet.
Yes, this family celebrates life passionately. Along with uncle Johnny (Luis Guzman) and Ozzy (Jay Hernandez), the young man who works in father Edy's (Alfred Molina) store, the whole bunch comes together to celebrate family. Until mom drops the bomb on them that she's divorcing dad.
It seems Edy cheated once on Anna and she's never forgiven him. And now he's taken to being secretive about something, taking phone calls in private and hiding whatever it is. It's enough to convince her that he's doing it once again.
The family is torn by this idea of the divorce. On one hand they want to support both their parents. On the other they want them to remain together. And at the same time each one has demons of their own to deal with.
Roxanna is not the star everyone back home thinks she is, waiting with cell phone in hand to find out if she's gotten the part to make or break her career. Jesse is disturbed by his time at war as well as dealing with the girl he left behind who is now involved with someone else. And Mauricio is dealing with bouncing between allegiance to his wife or to his mother.
Watching over all is Edy, taking in the whole picture. This character has more depth than is witnessed in words alone. He is the quiet one, trying to have a family holiday to outdo all others. And at the same time he has a secret that could prove devastating to them all. And it's not at all what Anna suspects.
This film offers a great combination of humor and tenderness that shows what being a family is all about. Its not about just the good times or the bad, it's about living life. You can take the safe path as long as you like, but never see the beauty of the world in doing so.
In the midst of this family is Sarah, the outsider, who may take a lot of guff from Anna, but who loves her husband and wants so much to be a part of this family. She gets her wish when she accidentally discovers Edy's secret. It's a burden more than the rest carry and one that is revealed by the end of the film.
Not sweet as the candy of RUDOLPH, not as bitter as A CHRISTMAS CAROL and not as tear jerking as ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE, this film presents a different world at Christmas than we're used to. And perhaps that's a good thing.
In a world where the family is falling apart, where single parents are becoming the norm, it's nice to see a film that focuses on the family, even if they are a bit different. It reminds us that the holidays are a time to get together. They are a time when family should be as one. With love, with laughter, with plenty of heart and with a touch of sadness, this film triggers all the emotions that a good holiday film can. And that makes it one worth renting this season.
