Home for the Holidays (1995)

Summary: After kissing her boss, being fired from her job, and learning that her sixteen year-old daughter (Claire Danes) plans to lose her virginity that very week-end, Claudia (Holly Hunter) heads home for Thanksgiving to her doting father, Henry (Charles Durning), and panic-stricken mother, Adele (Anne Bancroft). Her brother, Tommy (Robert Downey, Jr.), shows up with Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott), instead of his boyfriend, and her little sister, Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson), seems non-plussed about the whole situation. Add in Adele's sister, Aunt Gladys, who appears to be losing her mind, and, well, it's a Thanksgiving a lot like yours.

This lovely little movie was my introduction to the sexy, winsome, and talented Hunter. I liked her and it a lot when I was younger because a fair bit of my family spent so much time apart that we basically only saw each other on holidays. Now that I am one of those people, I understand it all the more.

I also like McDermott in it since we know have such a tendency to think of him in a serious The Practice sort of a way. I never watched The Practice, and I pretty much only know him from quirky off-beat comedies like this one. I wouldn't exactly call them his strong suit, but I don't mind him here.

Downey, Jr., remains one of my fav actors because I find him so fearless as an actor. This was also around the time that he admitted to having a problem with drugs, but that never diminishes him as a person or as an actor in my mind. It may have made him difficult to work with, but he manages to give his character the flair and comedic timing necessary to carry him through.

Plus, Bancroft must be so phenomenal to work with. She seems so confident in her abilities, so capable without being condescending about it.

The actors and the way the story line is divided up into titled segments are really what sold this movie to be. Jodie Foster's direction is a little bland, and W.D. Ritcher's screenplay struggles at times. It's so weird that I could be offended by the way the movie deals with certain topics. It would, however, be unfair to say that the reactions are out-dated. If anything, that little bit on the phone with Durning towards the end is more modern than half the stuff out there.

This movie might be the little comedic gem some of us need to get us through the holiday season.