Who doesn’t love a comfortable and harmless Christmas comedy film? The holiday season is here, and more often than not, movies like Home Alone, Bridget Jones’ Diary, or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles make up for a good idea for a rewatch. Prime Video’s latest offering, Oh. What. Fun. offers a spin on that genre, emphasising how these movies sideline the mothers and the female characters who work so hard to make the holidays special and, in return, get relegated to supporting roles of extremely less significance.
The premise
“Scrooge is famously grumpy around the holidays, and I’m not entitled to one little outburst?” asks Michelle Pfeiffer‘s Claire in the beginning. Fair point. Claire is a mother and now a grandmother who is busy making sure everything is okay before Christmas Eve with the whole clan. However, the film, directed by Michael Showalter, makes the mistake of referencing those classic films at the beginning, adding an invisible weight to the film that serves as a stark reminder that it is not living up to those expectations.
Claire is obsessed with the television show hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria), and wishes that her children nominate her for the annual Holiday Moms competition. But she can’t force it, can she? Her husband Nick (Denis Leary) is not as interested. Her kids? She is not sure. Oldest daughter Channing (Felicity Jones), who is married to Doug (Jason Schwartzman) arrives with their two children. Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) is once again here with her new girlfriend, while the youngest child Sammy (Dominic Sessa), has just been dumped by Mae-bell (Maude Apatow). So he manages to make a face at all times, and then goes on to sing a song which makes the rest of the family groan.
Movie Review
Oh. What. Fun
Claire plans a special Christmas, however, she is forgotten by her family. When they finally realise that she is missing, their holiday is at risk.
Director
Michael Showalter
Cast
Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dominic Sessa, Danielle Brooks
Does it work?
Chaos erupts in modest ways until the rest of the gang forgets to include Claire as they leave home for the live dance performance, which she arranged in the first place. See the Home Alone reference? Yes, up until now, the film feels prudently self-aware of its aspirations. The characters are deliberately caricaturish at times, and there’s not a single moment of concentrated emotional connection amid all the introductions and dialogues. Yet, after this major central crisis, the film seems no closer to understanding Claire, so neither do we. It is not moving towards something gravely original, and neither do we want that either.
Predictability is what gives this genre its all-too-comforting illusion, after all. So, when the midway turn gives way for not much to root for- even for Claire, the problem sticks like a bad joke. Oh. What. Fun is oh so predictable, oh so timid, and oh so underbaked at times that it takes a whole lot to keep up till the last few minutes. Pfeiffer emerges innocent, as does the rest of the ensemble cast, particularly Sessa. This is nowhere close to the hallmark films it refers to rectifying in the first place. Good intentions are never enough, and this release is oh so good in that declaring that example.
