Nothing Like a Holiday Movie You’ve Already Seen Before

What do you get when you mix holiday movie clichés with an excellent ensemble cast, the likes of which include Doctor Octopus, Dora, and Luigi? Nothing Like the Holidays! Don’t worry, I think it’s all supposed to look a little familiar.

I know what you’re thinking – I’ve liked most of the movies I’ve seen lately, how can I possibly tell you to go out and see another one? Well, in this holiday season of Nazi films and downer-film Oscar bait, what else is there? I’m assuming you’ve already taken my advice and seen Bolt (you’re welcome), and word on the street is that Four Christmases is pretty good, but what’s another $12 in this crumbling economy? I guarantee you a happy ending!

However, Nothing Like the Holidays isn’t perfect. We meet the Rodriguez family as they assemble for a family reunion over Christmas. Patriarch Edy decides to keep a secret from his wife, Anna. He does this, he claims, so that everyone can enjoy themselves over the holiday instead of dealing with the truth, but having never watched a soap opera, Edy doesn’t realize what secrets and assumptions of guilt will do to a party. They kill parties, Edy! Trust me! They also stir up trouble faster than gossip travels on The Hills. Or for that matter, on Gossip Girl. Therefore, we spend the majority of the movie watching the family deal with these assumptions and the information they hide from each other.

And from there, the clichés abound! Though screenwriters Alison Swan and Rick Najera set a nice pace and create interesting characters, they tend to overload on individual backstories. The Rodriguez brothers could have carried their own movies based only on their histories. Yet despite that, nearly every plotline ends too neatly, and the promised happy ending requires a few leaps of faith. Still, it’s nice to smile over the holidays as a film finishes, instead of crying over gas chambers and unhappy marriages.

So don’t let the clichés stop you. I mean, what’s a holiday movie without competition, medication, sibling rivalries, secrets, couples who don’t communicate, white lies, grudges, and holiday songs? I can’t even begin to tell you what our holidays are like. Not in this forum. Well, I could. Nothing beats a Campos family Christmas with a little spiked punch and Mario Party. You think you’re bitter? Just you try losing to your younger brothers. Repeatedly.

But those are all the things that work for this movie. I was often reminded of my own holidays, not so much because of the borrowed plot, but because of the easy familial interactions. What an excellent job by the entire cast to create comfortable, natural family relationships, never feeling contrived until the plot clichés interfered. When you have a superb ensemble cast, each person balances the other nicely, giving and taking without stealing the scene or carrying the movie. The real “star” of this film wasn’t any one actor, but the ensemble itself, and together, they worked perfectly.

And why shouldn’t they? Though most of these actors aren’t headlining major Hollywood films – because let’s face it, race is still a factor in Hollywood – almost every one should be recognizable. Doc Ock plays the family patriarch, with I Married Dora’s Elizabeth Peña as his wife. You know, I only love her because we watched that show when I was a kid. I barely remember that she was also in La Bamba. And Bad Boys! The couple’s children are well played by Gio Rossi, Luigi and Vanessa Ferlito. Okay, Ferlito I’ve never seen before. Jay Hernandez and a very underutilized Luis Guzmán play their cousins. Even Debra Messing pulled in a fine performance as John Leguizamo’s wife, giving me reason, for perhaps the first time, to enjoy her work. She and Leguizamo appeared so effortlessly together, I’d have been happy to watch them in their own film for a full two hours.

There are other minor quibbles with the movie, including the casting of Melonie Diaz, who was much better in Be Kind, Rewind, and the writing of the three major female characters to either be wrong or give up what they want for their men. No raging feminist am I, but … duly noted, writers. As this was necessary to obtain a full circle happy ending – even if it requires leaps in story logic and human nature – I’ll let it pass.

Because when the movie is over, you’ll have enjoyed yourself. Despite the clichés and the minor storytelling issues, Nothing Like the Holidays succeeds as a holiday movie, because almost always, clichés work for a reason. And if nothing else, you should watch for a glimpse of what the holidays are like at the Campos Homestead. Chainsaw included. Seriously. There’s a reason we don’t let certain people in the house use one.

Happy Holidays!