Surviving Christmas (2004)

It is all about Christmas! Being so full of joy, those who are lonely get most depressed! Ben captures the emotions of Drew, this nostalgic successful businessman who is always lonely in Christmas, so tries to overcome that by making a business deal and rent a family for the holidays!! This movie is depressing and hilarious at the same time, and it kind of grow on you every time you watch it! Home alone, states the problem, but this here a real home alone guy go search for a family to not be home alone any more! May be this the sequel where Not home alone again!! Lovely movie, every part is detailed and sarcastically funny! And the song at the start of the movie gives you a hint of what are going into!! A real Christmas classic.

This movie is way under-rated in my opinion. It is fun holiday fare. No, it's not Little Women or Miracle on 34th street. It's more along the lines of Home Alone. Ben Affleck is charming and the whole cast is wonderful. If you are looking for a funny holiday movie with a sweet message, it's worth a view. Christina Appelgate, not typically my favorite, is very enjoyable and I always love seeing David Selby (Falcon Crest and Dark Shadows) in anything. The premise hooks you from the beginning, a cad of a guy finds himself alone at Christmas and decides to go back to his boyhood home and rent the family for the holidays in an attempt to woo his girlfriend back. what happens is a lesson about life, love and family with some hilarity along the way.

Pros:I honestly think this movie was quite decent. Not so say it was anything near perfect in it's every regard, though still, I found it captivating.It did put me in a Christmas mood, but filled me with a sense of sadness, or should I say emptiness.The concept of spending Christmas alone, may to some seem unbearable, (although I know of a certain someone whom finds joy in this even) since after all... 'tis a festive season.It takes a somewhat unexpected turn, (something you will have to wait and see for yourself) which is a good thing - dynamic aids in engaging the viewer, intrigues the viewer.I must say, I found myself (to some extent) bonding with "Drew".A family on the verge of collapse, a man who's only Christmas wish (quite the expensive one) is to get the chance to relive "the snowy bliss of his now long since passed childhood.Cons: Not much frankly... To me it seemed a bit rushed, wraps up a bit too quickly - who knows, maybe I need to watch it once more, before passing such judgment.Summa summarum: all in all, I liked it and believe you will too.

So it's your average, run of the mill Christmas rom-com about a self-absorbed millionaire who selfishly decides to invade the Christmas of a family who now inhabit the home in which he once lived as a child. A way in which he can re-discover the Christmas spirit, and the common touch from which his hedonistic lifestyle has grown distant. His treatment though of the family (Gandolfini, O'Hara, Zuckerman and Affleck's eventual love interest, Applegate) is borderline exploitation, paying them to affect a Christmas experience to essentially cure his own guilt.Affleck has never much impressed me, and his performance here still carries that air of self-indulgence, even though he's basically playing a self-centred prick. Gandolfini and O'Hara develop a realistic chemistry of a couple who've grown apart in their day-to-day grind (the family are depicted as the typical urban battlers, to emphasise the contrast with Affleck's careless toff), and the remaining cast features some familiar faces in David Selby, Udo Keir, Stephen Root and Peter Jason among others.It's a pretty tame, but watchable Christmas outing, with a clichéd conclusion and message that always seems to strike the right chord when dressed in red, white and green and covered in mistletoe. Definitely an afternoon Christmas flick for the 23rd or 24th of December.