Deck the Halls Review
by Tim Voon (winklebeck AT hotmail DOT com)December 2nd, 2006
Deck the Halls (2006)
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
2 out of 5 stars
Cast: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth Director: John Whitesell
I was expecting the worst when I attended a screening of 'Deck the Halls' with some friends. I guess when you learn to expect the worse in certain movies and it doesn't turn out half as bad, you do tend to be more favorable with your reviews.
I would not rave about 'Deck the Halls'. It wasn't a great movie by any means, but at least it wasn't irritating or annoying. There were even a few genuine, belly hearted laughs that came from the crowd. My main criticism of this movie is that it is very, very ordinary. The quality of 'Deck the Halls' really belongs in realm of television and not on the big screen, and is not worth the price of a movie ticket.
Pharmacist, Steven Finch (Matthew Broderick) is known as the 'Christmas Man' in town. He has a beautiful home and family, is an ideal citizen, has immaculate tastes when it comes to Christmas decorations and is president of the Christmas Society in town. That is, until Buddy Hall (Danny DeVito) and his family arrive in town and move in next door to the Finchs.
Things start off on a wrong note, as minor personality differences between Steven and Buddy, escalate to outright neighborly war. I was worried that 'Deck the Halls' would equate to 'War of the Roses' meets 'Christmas with the Cranks'. Fortunately, there is some restraint in the prank department and although most are sadly amusing, it does not become vindictive or plain nasty. A lot of it is unintentional and balancing these feuding men, are their wives. I am thankful that the script did not make the wives a part of the war. It is good to see that Kelly Finch (Kirstin Davis) and Tia Hall (Kristin Chenoweth) hit it off as friends and both are vital in knocking some common sense in to their husbands.
I appreciate the reason why DeVito's character Buddy, had a reason for wanting to light up his house so it could be seen in space. All of us, at some stage in our lives, want to do something on this planet that we are remembered for. I also appreciated that Steven did not try to out do Buddy in the lighting department. However, I do worry about the amount of energy spent on Christmas lighting around the world, as every year I notice more lights go up around the neighborhood.
There were some amusing moments of note. The one that had me laughing the most was when these two boys start hooting at some hot sexy girls dancing on stage in Santa suits, before realizing that they have just googled their own daughters. This leads to a rush to the Church to purify their eyes with holy water.
Other things that I realized during this movie were Danny DeVito is very, very short. Matthew Broderick is married to Sarah Jessica Parker in real life, but in this movie is married to her onscreen best friends Kirstin Davis from 'Sex and the City'. Silly things like this tend to run through your mind when you are not being fully entertained and driven to distraction.
Timothy Voon
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