{"id":7728,"date":"2024-10-30T22:53:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T02:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=7728"},"modified":"2024-10-30T22:53:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T02:53:36","slug":"deck-the-halls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/30\/deck-the-halls\/","title":{"rendered":"Deck the Halls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Deck the Halls <\/strong>(2006)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century Fox\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, crude suggestive humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Whitesell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Matt Corman, Chris Ord and Don Rhymer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: George S. Clinton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mark Irwin\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Release date: November 22, 2006 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Dylan Blue, Sabrina Aldridge, Kelly Aldridge, Jorge Garcia, Fred Armisen, Gillian Vigman, Gary Chalk, SuChin Park, Lochlyn Munro, Kal Penn, Cory Monteith.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $35M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0On the upside, Deck the Halls<\/strong> is marginally better than Christmas with the Kranks and Surviving Christmas only because I did laugh a couple of times. It was empty laughter, but laughter nonetheless. Still, it\u2019s yet another crass and cynical holiday-themed comedy that exemplifies (and condones) everything that\u2019s wrong with Christmas. In this instance, two neighbors go to war over who has the most Christmas spirit. Yeah, that\u2019s something to fight over.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t see Deck the Halls<\/strong> at the movies; in fact, I didn\u2019t see it at all until this past weekend. I probably should have left well enough alone. I watched it right after Christmas with the Kranks and Surviving Christmas which, in retrospect, probably wasn\u2019t one of my better decisions. Never before have I had so strong an urge to watch something positive and genuinely uplifting. Where is A Christmas Story when you need it? I\u2019m even beginning to rethink my position on How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the 2000 movie, not the animated version).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Deck the Halls<\/strong> is full of annoying characters doing annoying things and I, for one, don\u2019t regard that as entertainment. A majority of the jokes fall flat with the possible exception of a sight gag or two. I can\u2019t recall exactly what made me laugh in this movie, but I can tell you about the most uncomfortable scene. It involves the two main characters inadvertently ogling their teenage daughters doing the kind of dance one would expect to see in a sleazy strip club in front of the entire town. Yeah, I\u2019ve always preferred my Christmas spirit served up with a side of tacit incest. Gross! I have no problem with humor in bad taste (I still roar over Bad Santa), but there\u2019s a limit. Thank God Deck the Halls<\/strong> is rated PG, imagine what we would have seen in a PG-13 or R.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Set in the picturesque small town of Cloverdale, local eye doctor Steve Finch (Broderick, Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off) is known around town as \u201cthe Christmas guy\u201d for his enthusiasm regarding the holiday season. He\u2019s so rigid in his adherence to his beloved family traditions that he sucks all the joy out of the season for his family. He\u2019s so clueless about their misery he doesn\u2019t even realize that his young son Carter (Blue) just wants to spend quality time with his father with a shopping trip to the local mall. Instead, Steve tells the boy that he already ordered a sweater on-line for him to give to his mother. Father of the year? I think not. This guy is a real tool.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The arrival of new neighbor Buddy Hall (DeVito, Ruthless People) is the start of a holiday nightmare for Steve as the obnoxious man becomes a real thorn in his wreath. After learning from his daughters that his house is not visible from space (according to a website called MyEarth), Buddy decides to change that by way of an obscene amount of Christmas lights on the outside of his house. This guy goes all out; he makes Clark Griswold look like the poster child for restraint. Naturally, this annoys Steve to no end (the lights shine directly into his bedroom window, naturally) and he tries everything in his power to pull the plug on his neighbor\u2019s Christmas spirit. It\u2019s especially difficult since Buddy has the support of practically everybody in town. Buddy steals Steve\u2019s thunder at nearly every turn. Christmas revelry becomes Christmas rivalry culminating in yet another predictably (and unbelievable) happy ending for all involved. It\u2019s a Christmas movie, so don\u2019t think of the last sentence as a plot spoiler so much as confirmation of the inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I did not have a good time watching Deck the Halls<\/strong>. The experience of watching this movie doesn\u2019t even come close to anything remotely resembling a good time. As I write these words, I\u2019m making a mental list of Christmas movies that make for a more pleasurable viewing experience. A Christmas Story, National Lampoon\u2019s Christmas Vacation, Mixed Nuts, Elf, Miracle on 34th<\/sup> Street, The Santa Clause, Scrooged, Bad Santa, White Christmas, Home Alone, any one of these are far more worth your time than this lame excuse for a comedy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Simply put, Deck the Halls <\/strong>is not funny. As we all know, there\u2019s nothing more insufferable than an unfunny comedy. Moreover, neither one of the leading characters are sympathetic enough to make the audience care who comes out on top at the end. Frankly, I wanted to see them both fall on their moronic asses. Broderick plays the kind of uptight jerk that would cause Will Rogers to rethink his position on humanity. I\u2019m astonished that his wife Kelly (Davis, Sex and the City) doesn\u2019t walk out on him sooner. On the other hand, I completely understand his teenage daughter\u2019s (Shawkat, Whip It) desire to avoid all Christmas-related activities with the family. By the way, Shawkat is the only one who delivers a watchable performance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0DeVito\u2019s character isn\u2019t much better. It\u2019s a variation of his character in Throw Momma from the Train. He\u2019s obnoxious, not too bright and a pain in the mistletoe, but he appears to mean well. Director Whitesell (Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son) really drops the ball by not making him a nasty little man. DeVito excels at playing mean characters. Look at how awesome he was on the TV series Taxi. By not taking advantage of this, the filmmaker all but assured the overall failure of his movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Then again, I\u2019m not sure that would even have been enough to salvage Deck the Halls<\/strong>. There\u2019s so much else wrong with it that it would take a complete overhaul and a miracle from God to help it achieve mediocrity. I almost forgot to mention Kristen Chenoweth (RV) who plays Buddy\u2019s long-suffering wife Tia. I don\u2019t know about the rest of you, but I find Chenoweth completely annoying. Well, she\u2019s right at home in this completely annoying movie. In fact, I\u2019m beginning to think that the couple of times I laughed during Deck the Halls<\/strong>, I was thinking about something else. Yes, let\u2019s go with that. Now there\u2019s absolutely no reason to see this facacta<\/em> movie. Oy vey, just stay away.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deck the Halls (2006)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, crude suggestive humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John Whitesell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Matt Corman, Chris Ord and Don Rhymer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: George S. Clinton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mark Irwin\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Release date: November 22, 2006 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Dylan Blue, Sabrina Aldridge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-holiday-movies","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Deck-the-Halls-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7811,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7728\/revisions\/7811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}