Uncle Nick

Uncle Nick casts Brian Posehn as the title character, an alcoholic ne’er-do-well who arrives at his brother’s (Beau Ballinger’s Cody) expansive house to celebrate Christmas – with the movie detailing the various fights and revelations that crop up over the course of one long night. There’s never really a point at which Uncle Nick is able to wholeheartedly capture the viewer’s interest and attention, as filmmaker Chris Kasick, working from a screenplay by Mike Demski, delivers a distressingly bland and generic comedy that suffers from an ongoing dearth of laughs – with the picture’s claustrophobic atmosphere certainly not doing anything to alleviate the mostly uninvolving feel. It’s worth noting, as well, that the various actors, trapped within the confines of familiar, one-dimensional roles, are generally unable to make much of a positive impact, and it’s clear, ultimately, that movie doesn’t really begin to adopt a watchable vibe until it rolls into its somewhat hackneyed yet comparatively entertaining third act (ie there are, finally, some real stakes at play here) – which cements Uncle Nick‘s place as a mostly unsuccessful endeavor that could only have worked as a short.

*1/2 out of ****

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