Home for the Holidays

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Actor(s):

Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Robert Downey Jr., Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott

Director(s):

Jodie Foster

Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Publisher(s):

MGM (Video & DVD)

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
MPN: MGMD1002359D
Format(s): Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $10.49
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

On the fourth thursday in november 84 million american families will gather together.. And wonder why. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/17/2006 Starring: Holly Hunter Steve Guttenberg Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jodie Foster

Amazon.com

Holly Hunter plays a Chicago-based single mom who--on the day before Thanksgiving--loses her job and is informed by her daughter of the latter's intention to surrender her virginity while on a weekend-long affair. If that's not enough, Hunter's character then has to fly to Baltimore to join her fractious family for another difficult Thanksgiving. Robert Downey Jr. is terrifically charming as her prankish, gay brother, and Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning show plenty of comic resilience during the predictably interesting Thanksgiving dinner scene. The script by W.D. Richter (Brubaker) avoids the usual clichés in family dramas--the deepest, darkest secret revealed here involves the painfully sweet revelation of a 40-year-old crush. Jodie Foster, directing her second feature, focuses instead on the inevitable softening of old grudges and disappointments with time. This is a wise as well as wonderfully fun movie. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Love it

I absolutely love this movie and was so glad I was finally able to find it.

ANOTHER MUST-BUY

This is my ALL-TIME FAVORITE FILM, and one which has never been given the accolades it deserves. On the surface, it's about a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving, but upon closer examination it's Everyman's story. For anyone who has ever gone home for the holidays after having moved away, this film will bring back all the craziness and emotion associated with such a visit. I have given it to countless friends as a gift and watch it more than once during the year (especially at Thanksgiving). It never ceases to please, and I often catch some subtle bit of humor I've managed to miss in previous viewings. It's written, acted and directed flawlessly. The cast reads like a Hollywood Who's Who. Directed by Jodi Foster, it stars Holly Hunter, Claire Danes, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Robert Downey Jr, Dylan McDermott, Steve Guttenberg and Cynthia Stevenson (as well as Geraldine Chaplin, whose work I had not previously seen). Each of them deserves a medal for this film.

Watching it before Thanksgiving sets the mood for the remainder of the holiday season. I highly recommend it for repeated viewing.

Charming snapshot of American family

I first saw "Home for the Holidays" when it was released on video in 1995. A small film, lovingly directed by Jodie Foster and blessed with an extraordinary cast, I was stunned by its frenetic charm. To this day I recommend it to friends, most of whom have never heard of it. Equal parts comedy and drama, "Home for the Holidays" covers the Larson family reunion on Thanksgiving day. The oldest daughter Claudia (Holly Hunter) is a single mom just fired from her job at an art gallery in Chicago. While en route to the airport, her teenage daughter (Claire Danes) reveals her plans to have sex for the first time while mom is away.

That's just one of many subplots interwoven into this colorful tapestry, as Claudia lands in Baltimore in the arms of her parents, portrayed by the indelible Charles Durning and Anne Bancroft. Eventually, all family members arrive at the holiday table, including the homosexual son Tommy (Robert Downey, Jr.), his mysterious friend Leo (Dylan McDermott), the prudish sister Joanne with husband Walter (Cynthia Stevenson and Steve Guttenberg) and eccentric Aunt Gladys (Geraldine Chaplin), a lonely soul with a taste for wine and impromptu recollections.

As madcap as a Griswold family vacation, "Home for the Holidays" will strike multiple chords with viewers as it stumbles through a variety of dysfunctional family dynamics and the sad reality of expectations not met. The contrasting personalities of these strong characters (and actors) ricochet continuously, held together by the thinnest thread of love and remembrance of a lost dynamic. I've been to enough family Thanksgiving dinners to know it's nothing short of a miracle they come off, and the dinner in "Home for the Holidays" is equally manic. Turkey's are thrown across the room, wine is spilled, fights break out and trips to the grocery store become epic misadventures.

The performances are uniformly superb, with Hunter and Bancroft especially touching as mother and daughter. Their scenes together are one of many highlights. Downey, Jr., as has been reported, was suffering from drug abuse during this film and there are times when his twitchy portrayal is over the top. Still, he gives a terrific performance. Now that this great actor has overcome his demons, the film is not as painful to watch.

Visually the movie is extraordinary, with several haunting snapshots - the snow-covered steps of the family home, Hunter stranded on the sidewalk in front of a cemetery, Bancroft standing in the snow in her housecoat and Durning watching home movies in the privacy of the cellar. I was especially moved to tears during the closing montage where youthful flashbacks of the family were shown on faded 8mm stock. For those who grew up in the 1960s, these grainy portraits of grandparents, parents and children will remind us of some of the purest moments of our own lives.

My lone complaint is a surprise ending which is too formulaic for my taste. I would have liked more subtlety, as everything up to that point was unusually truthful. The right chord had been struck as Hunter is boarding the plane to return home and her father quietly says, "We made her." Why dilute this by tacking on the fairy tale? Oh well, I still love "Home for the Holidays," a beautiful snapshot with an uncommon eye for the dramatic struggles of an aging American family. This is one of the best films you've never heard of.

Think your family is quirky?

This is a great laugh out loud family movie for Thanksgiving. A funny disfunctional family with a HOOT of an Aunt!

OK NOT GREAT

TYPICALLY I LOVE HOLLY HUNTER, BUT EVEN HER TALENT DID NOT CREATE ANY INTEREST FOR ME. THIS IS MOST LIKELY TOO TRUE TO REALLY ENJOY, A LARGELY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY--- NOT WORTH PAYING MONEY FOR. JUST STEP NEXT DOOR AND GET THIS FOR FREE.

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