Home for the Holidays

[osprey_archer]

When I discovered that Jodie Foster’s Home for the Holidays was set at Thanksgiving rather than Christmas, I was so enchanted by the idea of a Thanksgiving movie that I got it from Netflix without stopping to think about the fact that it’s also a dysfunctional family drama and, generally speaking, I don’t enjoy dysfunctional family dramas.

So I didn’t enjoy Home for the Holidays very much, which probably actually means that it’s doing the dysfunctional family drama thing pretty well, if that’s the sort of thing that you like. Special dishonorable mention goes to Robert Downey Jr. as Tommy, the obnoxious brother who does shit like show up in the middle of the night, sneak into his favorite sister’s room while she’s sleeping, throw off her covers and take Polaroids of her in her skimpy pajamas while she’s in the process of waking up. It’s okay because he’s gay, I guess!

Or it’s just creepy and vaguely incestuous and generally representative of his obnoxious personality: his behavior is outrageous, but he clearly expects (and largely receives) forgiveness because he’s so charming and over the top and “fun.” Someone must love this kind of character, but I do not, and honestly I find the appeal baffling. I guess you have to imagine either being that character, or at least being that character’s favorite, and just kind of not ever think about what it must be like to be the sister that he doesn’t like, whom he picks on incessantly, culminating in throwing a half-carved turkey in her lap while she’s wearing her best dress?

Then she goes off on a gay-bashing rant, I suspect because the filmmakers realized that if she weren’t a raving homophobe, the audience might start to sympathize with her instead of with her horrible brother. But you know what? They can both be awful at the same time. Maybe they have made each other awful by being so horrible to each other all the time. Maybe everyone in this benighted family should just stay home in their own homes rather than gathering together to torment each other.

Maybe I am just fundamentally at odds with whatever the appeal of dysfunctional family dramas (and Robert Downey Jr.) is supposed to be, and should stop watching them.

Comments

[ancientreader]

It sounds wretched. I don't mind dysfunctional family movies/books etc., if played for laughs, but it's a delicate game, getting the humor sharp enough without crossing into genuinely unpleasant-verging-on-damaging territory. Sometimes being OTT works, I think, but not realistically OTT, which it sounds as if this movie was.

[osprey_archer]

I don't think this movie was meant to be funny, but maybe it was and I just... didn't... notice? Obviously I'm not the target audience, so everything I say about it should be taken with a grain of salt.