Surviving Christmas

Directed by Mike Mitchell, Surviving Christmas follows a wealthy executive (Ben Affleck’s Drew Latham) as he pays the family living in his childhood home to pretend to be his own family for the holidays. It’s a silly, over-the-top premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly watchable effect by Mitchell, as the filmmaker, working from Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan, Jennifer Ventimilia, and Joshua Sternin’s screenplay, delivers an easy-going (and mercifully short) comedy that benefits from the go-for-broke efforts of its various performers – with Affleck’s appealingly larger-than-life turn as the clueless protagonist matched by a solid supporting cast that includes James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, and Bill Macy. The narrative’s often episodic bent does, however, pave the way for a hit-and-miss midsection that misses just about as much as it hits, ultimately, and there’s little doubt that Surviving Christmas is, as a result, unable to sustain the viewer’s interest for more than a few minutes at a time (ie there’s not much in the way of momentum here). By the time the predictably maudlin (yet satisfying) finale rolls around, Surviving Christmas has cemented its place as a passable comedy that seems unlikely to earn itself a place within the pantheon of classic holiday fare.

**1/2 out of ****