Film Review: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (1995, Jodie Foster)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 103 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Holly Hunter (CRASH, THE PIANO), Robert Downey, Jr. (WEIRD SCIENCE, NATURAL BORN KILLERS); Ann Bancroft (NIGHTFALL, THE GRADUATE), Charles Durning (SHARKEY'S MACHINE, DOG DAY AFTERNOON), Dylan McDermott (THE PRACTICE, HARDWARE), Geraldine Chaplin (DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, HABLA CON ELLA), Steven Guttenberg (CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC, DINER), Cynthia Stevenson (DEAD LIKE ME, HAPPINESS), Claire Danes (MY SO-CALLED LIFE, THE RAINMAKER), Austin Pendleton (CATCH-22, SHORT CIRCUIT), David Strathairn (THE RIVER WILD, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL). Music by Mark Isham (POINT BREAK, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE). Cinematography by Lajois Koltai (MOBSTERS, WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAY).
Tag-line: "We'll do it every year..until we get it right."
Best one-liner: "I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us."

Upon HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS’ release, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Neither caustic nor sentimental, it's a film that maybe half the people walking the earth have at one time considered writing..." And that's exactly it- everyone's had (or will have) these kind of family experiences that tiptoe between enraging awkwardness (in the here and now) and lovable idiosyncrasy (in retrospect). Oddly, those who so perfectly spun this tale are writer W.D. Richter (writer- BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS '79, director- THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI), and director Jodie Foster (her second feature). Like the best real-life eccentrics, the more time you spend with this film, the more it'll grow on you. It wasn't until my third or so viewing that it earned it's fifth star.

Holly Hunter is our beleaguered point of entry– fired from her job, and with a zinger laid on her by her daughter (Claire Danes) at the boarding gate, she must descend into the humiliation, ludicrousness, exuberance, and nostalgia of the Trip Back Home. The existential terrors of the airport, the catching up, the avoiding of random people from one's past- it's all captured in a brilliant observational style that never strays too far into mawkishness (nor, on the other end, silliness).


Durning and Bancroft enthusiastically bear witness to Holly Hunter's de-planing.


Her father:

is an organ-playin’, food-luvin' ("Redi-Whip! Smell it and weep!"), grumbling ("My goddamn pants are stuck in my socks!") Charles Durning.

Charles Durning and Ann Bancroft bust some moves.

Her mother is the amazingly crusty, chain-smoking, jigsaw puzzle-framing Ann Bancroft. Robert Downey, Jr. is her ebullient, gay, Polaroid-snapping brother. He's clearly riding the horse named "Big H," but that might be (!) why it’s his best performance. He's the kind of guy who will zoom by in his car (while blasting the Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird") as you're having an awkward encounter with some BMW-drivin' d-bags you knew 20 years before.


Downey's dickery in this film is legendary.


The Polaroid paparazzo.


A Downey-Guttenberg brawl is mediated by Durning and a garden hose.

Her sister is Cynthia Stevenson, playing that same sadly bitchy role she does so well. A really pissy Steve Guttenberg is her brother-in-law, a delightfully spaced-out Geraldine Chaplin is her aunt, and David Strathairn plays the saddest sack in the universe. There's love, melancholy, and endless possibility… and there's so much going on (almost think MAD magazine meets James Joyce) that repeated viewings are extremely rewarding.

Five stars, and happy Thanksgiving!

-Sean Gill

Film Review: THE FIRM (1993, Sydney Pollack)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 154 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Gary Busey, Holly Hunter, Jeanne Tripplehorn (BIG LOVE, WATERWORLD), Paul Calderon (Q&A, THE KING OF NEW YORK, PULP FICTION), Tobin Bell (SAW), David Strathairn (HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, THE RIVER WILD), Hal Holbrook (THE FOG, MAGNUM FORCE), Wilford Brimley (THE THING, HARD TARGET), Paul Sorvino (GOODFELLAS, DICK TRACY). Based on the novel by John Grisham. Screenplay by Robert Towne (CHINATOWN, THE LAST DETAIL), playwright David Rabe (HURLYBURLY, STREAMERS), and David Rayfiel (THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR).
Tag-line: "Power can be murder to resist." Hmmm. I think the tag-line department was phoning that one in a little bit.
Best one-liner: "It's not sexy, but it's got teeth!"

Well, I'm continuing Hitchcock pastiche/homage week with something a little less obvious. Maybe because it so frequently has the 'feel' or NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE 39 STEPS, or SABOTEUR, or maybe it's just because it has Gary Busey and I felt like it, but regardless, here it is.

I get the feeling that most people watch THE FIRM because they either like John Grisham, Tom Cruise, or the more sensational aspects of the legal system.

America's infatuation with 'Tom Cruise running' continues.

Well allow me to furnish you with 9 ALTERNATE reasons to check it out:

#1. It begins like a TWILIGHT ZONE. Though I knew it wouldn't take the supernatural route, having kindly old Hal Holbrook rolling out a foreboding red carpet in an eerily over-eager job recruitment process is Serling-ly terrific.

I think I saw this on the back of a phone book once.


#2. Wilford Brimley. It's always nice to see Willy get a meaty character role he can really sink his teeth into: '93 was a big year for him- he was the crazed Cajun uncle in HARD TARGET and here, the nefarious head of firm security.

Wild Willy is not fucking around. And he doesn't like it when you call him 'Wild Willy.'


#3. If the legal thriller's not really your style, you can always pretend that it's SOUL MAN 2, and that Cruise is the C. Thomas Howell character, post-Harvard graduation.

#4. Gary Busey. Toned down a tad by the studio, the Buse' is still toothy, potent, and full of inimitable Texan moxie. He's not in the film for long, but whenever he's on screen, you are having a goddamn ball. He even works in an unscripted Julio Iglesias reference. (I'm kinda reminded of THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY when he works in the name 'Chihuahua Garbanzo.')

Busey is apprehensive and about to mention 'Julio Iglesias.'


#5. Holly Hunter. Oscar-nominated for the role, she's dressed like Dolly Parton and making more wig changes than Louis XIV. She's almost as nuts as Busey, and I love it. Which leads me to:

#6. Busey and Holly making out. Did I mention she plays his secretary?


SCHLERP

#7. Cruise doing backflips with a breakdancin' kid on the street. Later, when dejected, he woefully passes by the same kid- no backflippin' this time.

#8. Skeezy Gene Hackman. Always golden. The poor guy was basically typecast post-Lex Luthor, but you get the feeling he loves it.

#9. Ed "I could kick your teeth down your throat and yank 'em out your asshole" Harris.

ED HARRIS IS WATCHING YOU

Eating Saltines, radiating profanity, and with Paul Calderon as his sidekick- yeah, it's intense.

Ed Harris eyes Strathairn with disdain.

In all, it's a solid Hitchcockian thriller with enough (Busey) screwiness and (Harris) intensity to keep you on board. Four stars.

-Sean Gill