A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Boyd Mitchler (Joel McHale) overcompensates for his miserable childhood Christmas with his loving wife Luann (Lauren Graham) and their two kids. He gets a call from his brother Nelson (Clark Duke). He has a baby when his wife got pregnant from a Mexican ballplayer and ran off. He wants to christen the baby on Christmas Eve. His father Virgil (Robin Williams) is a tough angry man and his mother Donna (Candice Bergen) misses him. His sister Shauna (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is married to the foolish Dave Welnke (Tim Heidecker). He realizes that he left his son's presents at home. He tries to make the 8 hour round trip but when his car breaks down, he has to get a ride with his bitter father.Tristram Shapeero is usually a TV director and this is done at an even lower level than that. Maybe he called in a lot of favors because there are a lot of great actors in this. Sadly they are mostly wasted in an unfunny dysfunctional family. It feels underwritten with a definite lack of good jokes. McHale and Robin Williams have nothing but anger between them. It's not funny and gets tiresome. Also splitting the family up doesn't make them any funnier.

Amongst the many tributes paid in the wake of Robin William's tragic death, one close friend said one of the contributing factors may have been the paucity of good roles for him later on in his career. Watching A Merry Friggin' Christmas proves the words probably weren't just speculation.You know how it's gonna go from the off... They'll be a big family gathering, everything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong... But somehow, by hook or by crook, they'll make it together and, despite the turmoil and the arguments, prove they LURVE each other. It's a formula as old as the hills, but done right can provide for a heartwarming Yuletide treat.Not in this case. The 'complications' thrown up by the plot feel arbitrary and forced, such as the youngest child getting stoned on 40 year old pickles, and seeing a talking snowman in his snowglobe. Not funny, or cute. And what the scene where the adults think they've run over a drunk in a Santa Suit, and are about five seconds away from chopping up his corpse with a chainsaw before he rouses? In a black comedy, this MAY have worked... But considering how silly everything else on show here is, it just feels in bad taste.Questionable behaviour abound, too. If you hired a foreign bloke to housesit for you while your brood is away for the holidays... and you found out he invited his ENTIRE FAMILY round your place to spend the week there without your permission, and they subsequently messed the place up and opened ALL your five year old son's gifts... Would you a) Kick them out and call immigration or b) Leave them to it, and give them ALL your lad's presents... save one? Guess which option this film takes. So... encouraging illegal residency... willful vandalism... and rewarding the perpetrators by handing over your offspring's presents to the squatters. It's safe to say, this movie's idea of a goodwill gesture at Christmas and mine are mighty dissimilar.Robin tries... He really does... But even at his peak he would have struggled with such weak material. The producers are so desperate for laughs they even plumb the depths (pun intended) and make his occupation a toilet salesman. This leads to a trillion and one bathroom jokes, which are about as crude and relevant to Xmas as you'd expect. Here's one more for ya... Guess what I'm going to do with this movie? *DROPS IN U-BEND AND PUSHES FLUSH* 4/10

I can't quite say if I enjoyed this movie or not. I initially wanted to see it because of it starring Robin Williams. (RIP) But then I saw the rest of the cast listing and was locked in on my decision. However, the movie itself left me with a mix of emotions. For a movie staring two hilarious actors, Hale and Williams, the mood was just a little too serious throughout. And even the humor was clouded in a way by something more depressing. There were funny parts to be sure, but it wasn't nearly as funny as I'd have hoped for. The storyline was decent except for the underlying current of utter despair that simply oozed out of this movie's pores. So, yeah, not my favorite movie by any means, but it had its moments. I'm really sad to think of it as being the last one we'll get from the great Robin Williams. I was hoping for something at the end of the credits, and in that I was not disappointed. The dedication to Williams was very touching and sweet.

Boyd Mitchler and his family must spend Christmas with his estranged family, and especially his father, who ruined the miracle of Christmas for him when he was a child.Upon realising that he left all his son's gifts at home, he hits the road with his father in an attempt to make the 8-hour round trip before sunrise, so he doesn't ruin the miracle for his son, thus turning him into his Father....Christmas films used to be magical, and about sweet saccharine topics, kids defeating wet bandits, Bill Murray kissing Bobcat Goldthwaite, and Chevy Chase speeding down a hill. But it appears that in the advent of Bad Santa, movie studios feel that they need to put a dark edge on all things Christmas, and here is no exception.It's not saying that its a bad movie, it's pretty enjoyable for the most part, and the message of keeping the Christmas dream alive for the kids is there, it's just that parts of the nuclear family aspect are handled sluggishly, and parts that should make you laugh, make you cringe.Such as the Middle Eastern family staying at the Mitchler residence, and the husband who has been charged for being 'rude' just don't cut this type of film, especially when they try and milk the jokes for all they are worth.So we get the husband playing Scrabble using innuendo, and the family being spoken to in their native tongue abhorrently. Oh how we laugh!!Saying that though, the scenes with Willams and his two sons are truly brilliant, and make the whole film worth watching.After all, this is one of the last films he made.Not a great film, but it does have its moments.