There's no
shortage of warmth in Nothing Like The Holidays, a rambunctious Christmas comedy-drama featuring a who's-who of Latino
talent, including Alfred Molina, Elizabeth Peña, Freddy Rodríguez, John
Leguizamo, Luis Guzmán, Jay Hernandez, Melonie Diaz, Vanessa Ferlito, and Debra
Messing. (Okay, strike that last one.) It also features no shortage of clichés.
Everyone in the cast looks like they're having the time of their lives, and the
Humboldt Park, Chicago setting has a specificity and flavor that carries
through everything from the storefronts to the food. Yet they're constantly at
war with the damning conventions of the holiday-movie subgenre, which turn what
might have been a 90-minute party into a loud, hoary, melodramatic calamity.
Why does Christmas have to be so shouty?
As a boisterous
family packs into their modest two-story for the holidays, they bring enough baggage
to sabotage a decade's worth of seasonal get-togethers. Everyone gets a
subplot: Patriarch Molina is on the outs with hot-tempered wife Peña, who
suspects he's having an affair; Rodríguez comes home from a tour of duty in
Iraq battle-weary, and unprepared to see his ex-girlfriend Diaz with another
man; would-be actress Ferlito has the neighborhood proudly trumpeting her as
the next big star, but she's floundered in Hollywood; and urban fast-trackers
Leguizamo and Messing face open hostility for putting off having children in
order to pursue their careers. (Note to Messing: If you want to make your
mother-in-law happy, don't show up at her house yapping into a Bluetooth.)
In the middle
of it all, there's a big, symbolic tree in front of the house—old and
gnarled, blocking the view, yet unbowed by tow truck, chainsaw, or power tools.
It's like this family, you see. Nothing Like The Holidays would have been much better off without the tree,
which isn't to say the family should disband, but that the movie doesn't need
clunky metaphors and manufactured conflicts. Take a cue from Guzmán, who serves
as a kind of court jester, bouncing in and out of scenes in a one-man quest to
bring levity to the occasion. The movie could stand to have more of his
Christmas cheer; instead, it's a recast Family Stone.