Nothing Like the Holidays: The Family Gathering Around a Different Tree

If there was an Academy Award for Ensemble Acting, a nomination would go to the cast of the family in Nothing Like the Holidays. There is such a strong chemistry in the scenes I started to wonder if there was really a script or if the actors were just improvising natural reactions. This is probably why I liked the movie so much. How often do you get a family drama where the everyone in the family acts so naturally with each other you don't question the family part.

Nothing Like the Holidays follows a Puerto Rican family gathering in Chicago. Most of the family seems like they're in cliche roles, but they claim being the best of those roles together. The oldest son (John Leguizamo) is a successful lawyer married to a Jewish stockbroker (Debra Messing). The other son (Freddy Rodriguez) is a wounded soldier from Iraq. The daughter is a struggling actress who's small work on TV is idolized by her family. At the head of the family is Anna, the mother with a long list of secret recipes she's waiting to share and who speaks Spanish more than the others. To the side is Alfred Molinas as the father, distracted by the local bodega he runs.

The issues are more than one layer. Yes, the movie could have made each character have a different issue, which they all do, but they also have each others problems. When Anna announces at dinner that she is divorcing her husband, the kids react different, even towards each other. Molinas masters the husband as a figure of silent acknowledgement, as though he may or may not be able to argue his wife into staying with him, but would rather just enjoy the time with his family by avoiding the issue. This brings out troubles with married son and his wife, as well as the soldier accepting how life gives the unexpected. They truly do deal with issues as a family.

The acting is superb not only on the dramatic scale, but also on the comedic level, as though we're laughing with the family. The men gather around an old tree in front of the lawn, promising to cut it down to give Ana the view her husband always promised (can a view save their marriage?). As they play with their chainsaws, the men each have something to prove about their masculinity to their women, who are placing bets on who will hurt themselves. You'll laugh at which wife bets on whom. The family does drink, both individually and together. It is a strong blend of drama and comedy when the son arranges for the Priest to try to convince the parents to salvage their marriage, only to begin with the mom coming home drunk and the Priest filling himself on her secret recipes.

Not since Juno have I cared so much for what happens to the characters. Here, I was choked up before anything happened. I wanted to hug them, to be invited to the dinner table and laugh. Even though some of the lines are in Spanish, I didn't need to know what they were saying (except when subtitles were rare provided for a good laugh), because the way they said it gave all the emotion for the words. While what I have said here may seem like I've given the movie away, I have not. There are many layers to everything the family goes through, and their way of going through it is not as simple as I would have originally thought.

Some would call this a solely Puerto Rican movie, or a movie that pokes a nationally, like The Family Stone or This Christmas. While Roger Ebert in his review (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081210/REVIEWS/812109989) won't name names of those on IMDb who dislike these movies as cliche and only changing races, I hold no such reservations. Toucansam3 of IMDb is asking if an Asian or Hindi movie will be following this one so that white, black, hispanic, and everyone else can claim the same story. I say, if they're as well-done as this movie, let them. Let it also note this movie was made in Chicago, set in a very multi-cultural suburb. The Jewish wife and black neighbors also get to claim ethnicity in this movie. For posting on Toucansam3's ill-comments, go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1151915/board/nest/124637146.

Is it entertaining? Very. If the laughs don't get you, the drama will.

Is it for everyone? Yes. Everyone can see this movie relate to their families, even if there is some cultural language to it. The father wants what's best for his son, just as all fathers do. The sons take different paths and have difficulty relating to each other because of it. These are all things everyone can relate to.

Is it memorable? While it will probably not get Oscar nominations or be a blockbuster, this is a movie worth sharing, which will make a memorable experience.