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MOVIES / ON DVD / DECK THE HALLS
Deck the Halls

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Deck the Halls (2006)

6%
9%
16%
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6 %
Reviews Counted: 77 Fresh: 5  Rotten:72 Average Rating: 2.9/10
 
Consensus: Deck the Halls is both unfunny and forgettable. A Christmas comedy with Matthew Broderick and Danny De Vito has to have some laughs, right? Unfortunately that's not the case. As far as movies about bickering neighbors during the Christmas holiday go, the predictable Deck the Halls is pretty mediocre, with hardy anything to cheer about. It doesn't help that both Broderick's and De Vito's characters are unsympathetic and the 'humor' is on the crude side for a PG movie. You won't see this one on any classic holiday movies list. more
 
Rated: PG
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Theatrical Release: Nov 22, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $35,058,863
Synopsis:
DECK THE HALLS is a family comedy about one-upsmanship, jealousy, clashing neighbors, home decoration...and the true spirit of the holidays. For Cloverdale, Massachusetts optometrist Steve Finch (MATTHEW BRODERICK), no time of the year can compare to the glory of the Christmas season.... [More]
DECK THE HALLS is a family comedy about one-upsmanship, jealousy, clashing neighbors, home decoration...and the true spirit of the holidays. For Cloverdale, Massachusetts optometrist Steve Finch (MATTHEW BRODERICK), no time of the year can compare to the glory of the Christmas season. And, for many years now, he's carried on a series of heartfelt but hokey Yuletide traditions that his family – wife Kelly (KRISTIN DAVIS), daughter Madison (ALIA SHAWKAT), and son Carter (DYLAN BLUE) – at this point, can barely tolerate. Despite his family's exhausted protests, super-organized Steve has the December calendar chock full with everything from shooting the Finch's annual Christmas card photo, to their ritual tree harvesting and neighborhood caroling night. There's also scheduled time for shopping, "personal reflection," and the town's yearly Winterfest carnival, which Steve joyously oversees. But Steve's Christmas bliss is suddenly destroyed when slippery car salesman Buddy Hall (DANNY DeVITO) moves in next door and Steve finds himself going toe-to-toe with his new neighbor. Buddy quickly begins to undermine Steve's dominance as the local "King of Christmas" when he sets out to festoon his new house with enough glowing holiday lights so it will be visible from outer space. We're talking a lot of lights, here! But why stop at lights? Motivated by the celebrity he's achieving with his dazzling, megawatt decorations, Buddy adds a live manger scene complete with donkeys, cows, sheep, and an imported camel, while continuing to wreak havoc on an infuriated Steve in a host of creatively twisted ways. Though Steve is in meltdown mode over Buddy's holiday shenanigans (never mind that Buddy's tapping into the Finches' electricity to power his décor!), wife Kelly has bonded with Buddy's brassy better-half Tia (KRISTIN CHENOWETH), while Madison has buddied up to the Halls' sexy, dim-bulb twin daughters Ashley and Emily (SABRINA & KELLY ALDRIDGE), who light up the life of younger Carter as well. Kelly and Tia and the kids become increasingly impatient, though, with Steve and Buddy's escalating rivalry and eventually threaten to pull the plug on the guys' entire Christmas season. Can Steve and Buddy declare a ceasefire before the holidays are ruined altogether, or will they continue their one-upsmanship until personal victory is achieved? In Deck the Halls, ‘tis the season where just about anything is possible. --© 20th Century Fox [Less]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Danny De Vito, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat

Director: John Whitesell
Screenwriter: Matt Corman, Chris Ord
Producer: Michael Costagan, Jeremiah Samuels
Composer: George S. Clinton

DVD Info

Release:

Nov 6, 2007

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • NTSC
  • Keep Case
  • Dual Side/Single Layer

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Surround - French, Spanish
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentaries - John Whitesell - Director; Danny DeVito - Star
  • Disc 1/Side A: DECK THE HALLS - Full Frame
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Additional Release Material:

  • Alternate Scenes - Deleted Scenes (3)
  • Interviews - "Dylan Blue Cast Interviews"
  • Outtakes - Bloopers (41)
  • Disc 1/Side B: DECK THE HALLS - Widescreen
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Additional Release Material:

  • Behind the Scenes - 1. "Construction of the Homes"
  • 2. "Lighting Design"
  • 3. "Winterizing: Shooting a Christmas Movie in July"
  • Trailers

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image

a bit too faux-humbug for me

Full Review | Comment
03/12/08 02:01 AM
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
Ratings Image

banal

Full Review | Comment
10/23/07 05:59 PM
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
Ratings Image

When Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito team up for a comedy that can't even deliver one well-oiled joke, that's a big problem.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/07 02:50 PM
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com
Ratings Image

Laden with false climaxes, the overstuffed plot leaves you exhausted well before the movie ends, and the amiable actors sleepwalk through their uninspired roles.

Full Review | Comment
04/14/07 04:38 AM
Joshua Land
Time Out New York
Ratings Image

What’s interesting about typical Hollywood Christmas movies is that regardless of how crass, vulgar, or mean-spirited they may be, by the last scene they will inevitably try to wrap viewers in a blanket of warm seasonal cheer.

Full Review | Comment
12/30/06 07:29 AM
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle
Ratings Image

'My stupidity astounds me!' chortles Danny DeVito in Deck the Halls, a line that pretty much sums up this tale of warring neighbours with very different ideas about celebrating Christmas.

Full Review | Comment
12/30/06 07:29 AM
Neil Smith
BBC
Ratings Image

Got any kids who've been naughty this year? Here's their present.

Full Review | Comment
12/30/06 07:29 AM
Sam Toy
Empire Magazine
Ratings Image

This one follows the depressing pattern of Surviving Christmas and Christmas With the Kranks: enforced holiday cheer gives way to bilious hatred, then hollow forgiveness.

Full Review | Comment
12/26/06 01:47 PM
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Not that we expect much from a Holiday movie about neighbours competing over Christmas lights (how familiar is that?), but John Whitesell's film is so lacking in any plausible plot that I squirmed in my seat throughout the entire duration of the screening

Full Review | Comment
12/19/06 06:58 AM
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca
Ratings Image

None of this is ever funny, and what's more, we just don't care.

Full Review | Comment
12/18/06 07:01 AM
Jeremy C. Fox
Pajiba
Ratings Image

seems to have only been greenlit because producers know that families need PG-rated dreck to occupy the kiddies while mom is out shopping for Christmas presents.

Full Review | Comment
12/17/06 12:32 PM
Sean McBride
Sean the Movie Guy
Ratings Image

Deck the screenwriter, deck the director--then go and deck your own halls.

Full Review | Comment
12/11/06 10:06 AM
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Ratings Image

The lights go off pretty fast on this one.

Full Review | Comment
12/09/06 07:23 AM
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses
Ratings Image

Caso você seja diabético(a), cuidado ao assistir a Um Natal Brilhante, pois há um grande risco de vir a sofrer uma hiperglicemia provocada pelo excesso de água-com-açúcar.

Full Review | Comment
12/07/06 10:10 PM
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

A few laughs are sprinkled in this equivalent of a lame sitcom holiday episode, but the broad comedy and treacly ending are unlikely to put anyone in the Christmas spirit.

Full Review | Comment
12/03/06 09:44 AM
Mark Pfeiffer
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
Ratings Image

Watching "Deck the Halls" is like getting a lump of coal in your stocking. Except receiving a lump of coal takes only seconds, while this awful movie goes on for an hour and a half.

Full Review | Comment
12/02/06 11:28 PM
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Ratings Image

[Deck the Halls] wants to be both naughty and nice, but just ends up feeling deeply confused.

Full Review | Comment
12/02/06 08:08 AM
Nathan Rabin
Onion AV Club
Ratings Image

You might be wondering just when the heartwarming spirit of the season is going to come crashing down upon these boy-men.

Full Review | Comment
12/01/06 01:59 PM
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
Ratings Image

You can't even say Deck the Halls lacks the courage of its convictions, because it doesn't have any

Full Review | Comment
12/01/06 07:16 AM
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

A box of Christmas movie clichés wrapped in tired slapstick and tied up with a bow made of trite lessons about the 'true meaning of Christmas.'

Full Review | Comment
11/29/06 01:45 PM
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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