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Movies / On DVD / Deck the Halls
Deck the Halls

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Deck the Halls (2006)

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Reviews Counted:79

Fresh:5

Rotten:74

Average Rating:2.9/10

Consensus: Relying on flat humor and a preposterous plot, Deck the Halls is an unnecessarily mean-spirited holiday movie that does little to put viewers in a holiday mood.

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some crude and suggestive humor, and for language.

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Comedies

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... 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 [More]

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

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Danny De Vito, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Dylan Blue, Kelly Aldridge, Sabrina Aldridge, Fred Armisen, Gillian Vigman, SuChin Pak, Ryan Devlin, Jorge Garcia, Gary Chalk

Director: John Whitesell

Director: John Whitesell
Screenwriter: Matt Corman, Chris Ord
Producer: Michael Costagan, Jeremiah Samuels
Composer: George S. Clinton
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Release:

Nov 6, 2007

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Reviews for Deck the Halls

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41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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A holiday farce that pairs a colorful cast with a generic filmmaker.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
11/22/06
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The ending is so sweet that it'll send your family out of the theater for 3 1/2 solid minutes of smiles before everyone starts drinking and pointing fingers again.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 1 Comment
11/22/06
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As reliable as your Aunt Harriet's sweet potato casserole, every holiday season brings a movie just like John Whitesell's Deck the Halls, in which otherwise sensible actors commit themselves to a cheerless exercise in jingle bell hell.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
11/22/06
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Deck the Halls, a flabby attempt at false holiday cheer opening in theaters today, resembles an inflatable Santa after vandals have gotten to it.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
11/22/06
Sue Pierman
Sue Pierman
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When you're starting to think that maybe sneaking out and going to see "The Santa Clause 3" would be a better use of your time, you know you've stumbled upon a truly wretched film.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
11/22/06
Kim Voynar
Kim Voynar
Cinematical

Movies like Deck the Halls should make us all thankful that Christmas only comes once a year. What other season could possibly inspire a story as insipid as this?

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
11/22/06
Peter Debruge
Peter Debruge
Miami Herald

A low in soulless Hollywood Christmas movies, and more celebration of consumerism than condemnation.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
11/22/06
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

Although it borrows ingredients from many familiar Christmas flicks, it's got a sly twinkle of its own.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment 1 Comment
11/22/06
Jennie Punter
Jennie Punter
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Since this is ostensibly a holiday family picture, things never get so nasty as to be Bad Santa-style outrageous, unless you think a rigged speed-skating competition or a cross-dressing local sheriff is the height of hilarity.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
11/22/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You cannot believe how excruciatingly awful this movie is.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
11/22/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...this sour eggnog combines bad taste with ersatz holiday cheer.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
11/22/06
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

How come the talk-radio blowhards never bring movies like this up when they're inveighing against the War on Christmas?

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/22/06
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Broderick and DeVito must be mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted by the sad, tired quality of these lame gags.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
11/22/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

There must be an underground contest in Hollywood to see who can make the worst Christmas movie...Hang the Crepe would be more appropriate.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
11/22/06
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Flimsy and fumbling - bah, humbug!

Full Review Source: www.susangranger.com | comment Comment
11/22/06
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

has no real heart and certainly not a trace of warmth. You may leave the theater with a strong desire not to decorate a tree, but to deck the person who talked you into seeing this turkey.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
11/22/06
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

Mr. Broderick and Mr. DeVito look tired and out of sorts, and you can hardly blame them, given the picture's inept, curdled mixture of sappiness and crude humor.

comment Comment
11/22/06
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

So bad it almost makes me renounce Christianity altogether.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
11/22/06
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

The quintessential Hollywood Christmas movie. It's Grumpy Old Christmas.

Full Review Source: Can Magazine | comment Comment
11/21/06
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
Can Magazine

After seeing the trailers and commercials for this one, I was convinced it would be utterly detestable, but it turns out Deck The Halls is only majorly annoying. I guess that is a step up.

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
11/21/06
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com
 
 
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