I have been busy all day and have not yet had the pleasure of watching the only Thanksgiving movie that matters: Jodie Foster's 1995 film, "Home For The Holidays."
I truly appreciate this film. I just came back from a Thanksgiving gathering that periodically swung from screaming madness to crushing boredom and back again. Real-life family gatherings are often placed on the pain scale just two rungs below 'root canal' yet movies often refuse to acknowledge this. I believe this is from the false Hollywood belief that viewers aren't entertained by grim reality; they go to movies to escape it. To me, nothing is more entertaining than acknowledging that you can't stand your estranged sister's judgment of your entire life, from your sexual orientation to your job (or lack thereof), you fear your aging mother's increasing dottiness (that'll be you someday), and no, I don't have a job right now, thank you very much. I'm fine, Mom. Don't make me wear the puffy coat.
There is so much that is genius to this film, from the quietly brilliant screenplay, to the relaxed, believable and often incredibly funny actors, especially my boy Robert Downey, Jr. As we all know, Robert Downey, Jr. is a man who will climb in your window and curl up in bed next to you, if given enough barbituates. But he's also a man who can make me laugh so hard one minute, then I'm tearing up the next. So he can stay. Tommy, Holly Hunter's gay brother, is one of Downey's best roles, IMHO. It is such a finely tuned performance, it almost doesn't seem like acting, it just feels like Downey playing around. But Tommy is a terrific role that calls for him to externalize the conflict within a beloved and entertaining, but misunderstood gay peg in a (very) straight family. He's just utterly human, not the cliche of the gay family member in alot of movies. I look forward to seeing his hilariously touching performance every time I pop in this film.
I don't want to downplay the other great performances in this film, including Holly Hunter, who is great as the put-upon single Mom who is still hot enough to hook up with a totally dishy Dylan McDermott in her parent's house like it was 1978; the late, great Anne Bancroft and her lovely wig; Cynthia Stevenson, who is spot-on as the prissy, uptight and angry-as-hell conservative sister who resents her siblings' less-structured, more bohemian lifestyles. I roll every time they pour the stuffing of the turkey on her head. Even Steve Guttenberg puts in a nice appearance as Cynthia Stevenson's stuffy but generally good husband for whom "cash is king." Claire Danes was at the height of her "My So-Called Life"-fueled hotness; I would watch this girl in anything back then. I was glued to the screen as she spent half her screen time dying a slow death in 1994's 'Little Women." She was not as good as we all thought, but she is very 90's, being Angela Chase and all, so part of me loves her.
Enough talk. Watch this film every Thanksgiving from now on. You're welcome.
(If yr at work, beware of cursing dysfunctional family members. Keep the volume of the clip low.)
I love when they pour the stuffing on her head. Really.
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