Surviving Christmas Backdrop Blur
Surviving Christmas Poster

Surviving Christmas

"This year, Christmas comes early. Really early."

A wealthy executive, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) has no close relationships and becomes nostalgic for his childhood home as Christmas approaches. When he visits the house and finds another family living there, he offers the residents, Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Christine (Catherine O'Hara), a large sum of money to pretend they are his parents. Soon Drew tests the couple's patience, and, when their daughter, Alicia (Christina Applegate), arrives, things get increasingly tense.

Top Cast

  • Ben Affleck

    Ben Affleck

    Drew Latham

  • James Gandolfini

    James Gandolfini

    Tom Valco

  • Christina Applegate

    Christina Applegate

    Alicia Valco

  • Catherine O'Hara

    Catherine O'Hara

    Christine Valco

  • Josh Zuckerman

    Josh Zuckerman

    Brian Valco

  • Bill Macy

    Bill Macy

    Doo-Dah

  • Jennifer Morrison

    Jennifer Morrison

    Missy Vanglider

  • Udo Kier

    Udo Kier

    Heinrich

  • David Selby

    David Selby

    Horace Vanglider

Overview

A wealthy executive, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) has no close relationships and becomes nostalgic for his childhood home as Christmas approaches. When he visits the house and finds another family living there, he offers the residents, Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Christine (Catherine O'Hara), a large sum of money to pretend they are his parents. Soon Drew tests the couple's patience, and, when their daughter, Alicia (Christina Applegate), arrives, things get increasingly tense.

Rating

5.7 / 10
590 Reviews
2 Popular

1 Reviews

  • r96sk
    r96sk
    6 Dec 10, 2022

    The star cast elevate this a lot. Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate and Catherine O'Hara are, honestly, the only reasons this was watchable, for me personally at least. If it was a film with a lesser known cast, I wouldn't have any positives for it. For a festive flick, it's a little too mean-spirited. Of course that's the way these films usually go so the eventual pay-off can occur, though with this it's a bit too the other way and the aforementioned pay-off isn't all that pleasant. You gotta make the characters way more likeable if you're only gonna redeem them a tiny bit. 'Surviving Christmas' is at least only a relatively short film at around 90 minutes and there are a couple (if not enough) amusing moments. There's also a surprisingly topical commentary on unintentionally consenting your likeness away via photos - I'm looking at you, latest Instagram trend.

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