Happy Christmas

From the opening credits through as much of this waste-of-my-time endurance test as I could stand, this turkey caused me to cringe. What a waste of money … glad I only rented it!

Honestly, I was really excited to see this movie! Anna Kendrick is awesome and I was willing to give this movie a shot. But like everyone else has said, it is basically a Slice of Life style movie. You just go through the character's lives with no real story arch or coming of age theme through any of them. It's not that funny either. Since I heard the movie was all improv I was even more excited! But this left the movie with many awkward scenes (sometimes without any dialogue) that could have easily been cut off to make what little story there is progress faster. The plot sounded really funny, and the actors seem like a great find! However, the dialogue and directing didn't deliver. :(

A lot of the negative reviews don’t seem to “get” Joe Swanberg’s style or purpose here. Excellent performances by all the tiny cast of five people — well, 5 1/2 people, as 2 year-old Jude Swanberg, the director’s son, was just splendid. The wholly improvised dialogue was excellently natural, and the characters were the sort of people we all know. There’s a lot of humor, a good deal of awkwardness, and a bit of drama. I also adored the ending, thinking a perfect bow tied onto the film as a whole. But it certainly won’t be for everyone.

This movie looks like it was filmed in 1975; not as a period piece; just from a technical viewpoint. The screen and sound quality (in hd) is like a home-made video. How could anyone call this move a comedy? For the first 40 minutes there is nothing but cultural tension. The parents want a break and feel the pressure to take care of their kid. The sister-in-law goes out and parties and bombs out on her babysitting duties. Nobody trusts anyone. Tension all around. Maybe it gets better from there, but half way into the film, we were totally bored and depressed. There is no Christmas element in this film that I saw. Don’t waste your time.

This movie is so bad, it brings a new low to film. I cannot blame the actors, only the director could make this assault on ones senses. Nothing is believable, or maybe its too real. However, if it was real, the characters would just cut their own throats to end their misery.

I enjoyed the film in general, but the ending was strange. It is worth watching just don't expect the film to have a tidy ending.

save your money

I love comedies, Anna Kendrick, and Christmas - so I thought this movie would be highly enjoyable. Turned out, it's not. There is no plot, and there are no laughs. The entire cast stammer through the film (improv is supposed to be entertaining not annoying), there are long awkward silences, and Kendrick's character is so self absorbed and selfish that's it's nearly impossible to like her. Moreover, there are several scenes that left the viewer wondering how they even remotely contributed to the storyline. And, as bad as the movie was, they didn't even provide the audience with a decent ending. An abrupt "The End" will leave you wondering why you even wasted your time getting to know these characters.

We were so disappointed to be so disappointed by this movie. Such a great cast but so slow!!

Just boring, skipped a lot of scenes. Slow and pointless.