(L-R) Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr
Writer: Pamela Gray
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Notable Actors: Robert Downey Jr, Holly Hunter, Geraldine Chaplin
Before I saw this the only thing I knew about it was that Robert Downey Jr was off his head on black tar heroin throughout filming. Which shows. Or not. Depends on both his interpretation of his character and yours.
Before I saw this the only thing I knew about it was that Robert Downey Jr was off his head on black tar heroin throughout filming. Which shows. Or not. Depends on both his interpretation of his character and yours.
But anyway. This is so American it hurts. Anything set over thanksgiving makes me feel uncomfortable, seeing as I don’t even do birthdays. The importance of this holiday only acts as a slap in the face to any non-Americans: ha-ha, this is important and lovingly familial and you don’t have this. Of course there’s always the argument that if the family doesn’t get on they shouldn’t meet simply because society dictates, but whatever…
Home for the Holidays is described as a rom-com. It’s not. It’s a black comedy surrounding a family’s interaction, with the relationship between siblings Downey and Hunter at its heart.
That side of Home for the Holidays is wonderful – all the family stuff is superb. Downey’s ADHD portrayal of the normal one (who just happens to be gay and only truly accepted by Hunter) is perfectly complex, balanced out wonderfully by the other members of the family – especially Anne Bancroft’s thoroughly unlikable matriarch. Downey (or, arguable, Hunter’s battle-crying vocal arrangement) is undoubtedly the star of this film.
Except that the audience is stupid, and no matter how wonderfully and oddly English this is there’s this extremely strange half hour tacked on at the end in order to justify the romance of the genre. This could’ve been so much more, one feels, if that had been left out completely. Failing that perhaps a little more ambiguity, or a few more hints – although the fact that it came from nowhere was fucking enjoyable in a way rare in modern cinema – would’ve saved the uncomfortable ending.
Home for the Holidays is a good film. Certainly good enough to deserve more of a reputation than ‘that film Downey was dancing with smack in’. But it all falls apart at the end as it attempts to be something else. Similarly, the tangent featuring Hunter’s daughter feels contrived to the point of boring. This film could've been so much better if they'd cut so much more, but I suppose that loses the essence. Fucked no matter what, eh?
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