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10/18/08
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Surviving Christmas (2004)
7 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 107
Fresh: 8
Rotten:99
Average Rating: 3/10
Consensus: Surviving Christmas is unpleasant characters attacking each other for 90 minutes before delivering a typical, hollow anti-consumerist message
Theatrical Release: Oct 22, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $11,198,345
Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Ben Affleck ("Good Will Hunting"), Emmy winner James Gandolfini (TV’s "The Sopranos") and Christina Applegate ("View From the Top," TV’s "Married With Children") star in the comedy "Surviving... [More]
Starring: Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara
Director: Mike Mitchell
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Reviews for Surviving Christmas
Pique on earth and ill will toward men permeate this mirthless comedy.
03/05/07
Top Critic The movie is dead from the outset given the artificiality of the premise about a lonely rich guy who hires the folks living in his boyhood home to be his family for the holidays.
03/05/07
Top Critic If you thought the Ron Howard Grinch movie was the worst excuse for a holiday movie in recent memory, then look out: this one’s worse.
01/15/05
All that's vaguely funny or Christmassy about this are the sweaty beads of desperation which string together like fairy-lights across Affleck's forehead as he hammers out one lame gag after another.
11/30/04
Surviving Christmas can’t decide whether it wants to be naughty or nice and the end result is a sometime funny story, but with a severe multiple personality disorder .
11/30/04
Affleck gives one of the clammiest, most panicked performances I've ever seen. The movie is drenched in his flop-sweat.
11/08/04
The premise has potential, as does the casting, but the script is so mind-numbingly lazy that it insults its audience at every turn.
11/07/04
With the release of this wretched film, star Ben Affleck takes one more ragged step in what seems his death march from leading man to celebrity game show guest.
11/05/04
Easily the worst Christmas movie of all time, and a surefire contender for the worst film of 2004.
11/02/04
Ben Affleck's Christmas "comedy" is a misfire under the mistletoe, even with a germ of a classic tale hidden under the ugly wrapping.
11/01/04
Watching this holiday dud is like opening a fantastic Christmas present -- a gift that is exactly what you wanted and that, shortly thereafter, unravels, breaks, or otherwise falls apart.
10/30/04
The desperation apparent in Affleck's bug-eyed attempts at whimsy may be the most uncomfortable aspect of Surviving Christmas.
10/30/04
Can’t decide whether it wants to be dark or merry, and it bungles nearly every attempt at doing either.
10/30/04
Affleck may finally have found a use for his obnoxious personality, because Drew is amazingly annoying.
10/30/04
The idea of casting Ben Affleck as some kind of giddy holiday angel who drops in and makes everything all right again was doomed from day one.
10/29/04
Latest News for Surviving Christmas
October 17, 2007:
Total Recall: Ben (Affleck's) Bits
In Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck directs younger brother Casey in a mystery surrounding the case of a missing Boston girl. In the spirit of Total Recall, we decided to take a look... More...
March 12, 2007:
Ben Affleck Goes Straight to Video With "Man About Town"
Okay, we all knew Ben Affleck was having some problems, and earned a few Razzie nominations several years in a row, but he's still a movie star. Could it really have gotten to... More...
December 15, 2005:
Critical Consensus: A Sly "Family Stone," A Towering "Kong"
This week at the movies, we have a giant ape {"King Kong"} and some yuletide dramedy ("The Family Stone"). Will the critics go bananas for these flicks? More...
October 25, 2005:
"Sky High" Director to Helm "Claus" Comedy
The Hollywood Reporter brings news of a new holiday-themed comedy from Mike Mitchell, director of "Sky High." It's about Santa's disgruntled older brother, and it's... More...
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Where is the next shoot?
by: jennsai 1/25/03
by: jennsai 1/25/03
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