| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
|
| Story: |
B |
|
|
| Acting: |
C+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
B |
|
|
| Visuals: |
C+ |
|
|
Honest Review (Includes SPOILERS)
by death d (movies profile)
Jan 25, 2007
36
of
44 people found this review helpful
The way this movie is advertised is VERY misleading. It looks like the typical mindless neighbor fued during the holidays, that resolves itself in the most typical holiday heart warming ending... IT'S NOT!
I'll try not to ruin the movie, but I think if you knew more about the story, you would appreciate this flick even more.
The 2 Main Characters explained:
Basically the movie is based in a small quiet suburban neighborhood. In that neighborhood, Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick) is an uptight ultraconservative family man. The kind that plans everything and everything must fit a specific timetable. Everything must fit his "acceptable" view of how the holidays should be handled. Christmas is HIS HOLDIAY...even though he sucks the ever loving fun right out of it for everyone. He is the relative that is so fixated on making the holdiays so perfect, that they forget what the holdiays is truely about.
During the holidays, Buddy Hall (Danny DeVito) moves in across the street from. He is the polar opposite of Steve Finch. Buddy Hall is a guy full of personality, very unpredictable, and good hearted in nature. Think of him as a liberal. There is early friction as Buddy Hall introduces his family to Steve Finch, and you kinda get a little jealousy from Steve Finch.
THE STORY:
This is where I think the trailers failed. They make it seems like neighbor trying to put the screws to the other neighbor but it's not.
Buddy Hall's character is the key. He may seem like a confident father and husband, but really veiws himself as a nobody. One day he sees his daughter on the computer, and she tells him about how you can see house lights from space. They type in their home address and it's barely even viewable. Kind of a metaphor for Buddy Hall veiw of himself.
So Buddy gets the idea to make his house the most brightest house for the holidays. He starts off small, then slowly it gets bigger and brighter. Eventually he starts becoming more and more noticed, getting media attention, and the small quiet neighborhood is transformed into a tourist spot ... all to see the lights.
Buddy gets kind of addicted to the attention and in some way feels it makes him more important in his family's eyes.
Enter Steve Finch. He feels replaced as the neighborhood holiday king, and that Buddy is more liked by Finch's own family than him... all becuase of those tacky christmas lights.
The rest you can kind of figure out on your own.
THE REST OF THE MOVIE:
The acting has good moments, but at times becomes predictable, and almost a satire of other Holdiay flick. The acting quality is similar to The Santa Clause. Not bad, but not great either. It gets pretty retarded at points when they go from serious realistic, to "kid friendly slapstick".
The special effects/stunts suck. Just be forewarned.
Overall, it's a good flick with many good moments to see with the family, but becuase of tired visual comedy and a very predictable resolution, it's not a holdiay classic...just filler. |
My Public Profile 
