Nothing Like the Holidays (Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez, John Leguizamo, Luis Guzman, Debra Messing) — It’s a Latino Christmas in Chicago, bringing together many of today’s leading Hispanic-American actors in a very predictable holiday comedy-drama. The best part of this movie is the ethnicity and the peek into the culture of the Latino family. Absent that, this wouldn’t be much of a film. No new ground. No new characters. No new story line. Dad owns a grocery store in the Hispanic part of town and longs for the day when one of his sons returns from Iraq to take over the business. Played by the versatile and talented Freddy Rodriquez (who also was one of the producers), he is haunted by the fact that he switched “watch” with a friend, who died as a result. He is glad to see the family but he feels like his life is without meaning away from Iraq. His brother is a lawyer married to a Jewish hedge fund manager (Debra Messing) but their lack of kids is a big deal in this family. There is also a lovable goofball cousin who is a TV salesman played by the wonderful Luis Guzman. The sister is a Hollywood actress with some minor credentials who the family considers a “star,” but she is struggling for parts. The story is one of those slice-of-life dramas that places too many people in one house. And when mom (Elizabeth Pena) announces she is going to divorce dad because of his infidelities, the family starts to come apart … or does it?
Nothing Like the Holidays is really misnamed, given the fact that it’s only about Christmas. And the story is really everything about the holidays while plowing familiar ground. It even has to resort to contrived story lines about an old tree, an illness, and a feud between an extended family member and a local who killed his father. But the movie isn’t offensive or overly boring either. It is a pleasant night out. I wouldn’t call it the “feel good movie of the holiday season” but it’s just as good as Four Christmases but absent the star power. It is a warm film with appeal beyond the Hispanic community but I doubt it will do well at the box office.