Nutcrackers

Directed by David Gordon Green, Nutcrackers follows a busy workaholic blah (Ben Stiller’s Michael) as he arrives in Ohio to find living arrangements for his four rambunctious nephews after his sister dies suddenly. It’s extremely, exceedingly familiar subject matter that’s employed to forgettable yet kind of watchable effect by Green, as the filmmaker, armed with Leland Douglas’ screenplay, delivers a paint-by-numbers endeavor that benefits from its affable atmosphere and Stiller’s expectedly winning efforts – with, in terms of the latter, Stiller’s entertaining work going a long way towards perpetuating a relatively tolerable feel. Having said that, Nutcrackers, which gets off to a less-than-promising start, contains an often breathtakingly by-the-numbers narrative that’s overflowing with conventional, hackneyed scenes and sequences – with the periodic inclusion of fun moments (eg Michael turns the plot of First Blood into a bedtime story) generally sustaining the viewer’s dwindling interest. By the time the let’s-put-on-a-show third act rolls around, Nutcrackers has confirmed its place as a genial throwback that is, unfortunately, rarely as charming as Green has obviously intended (ie those kids are just annoying, mostly).

**1/2 out of ****