Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito are hilarious as two neighbors trying to put the "win" in "winter" in one of the year's funniest comedies! Determined to unseat Steve Finch's (Broderick) reign as the town's holiday season king, Buddy Hall (DeVito) plasters his house with so many decorative lights that it'll be visible from space! When their wives (Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth) bond, and their kids follow suit, the two men only escalate their rivalry  and their decorating. It's anybody's guess whether the holidays will wind up jolly or jostled in this wild and woolly laugh-fest that the whole family will love!Good neighbors can be hard to come by and when the flighty Buddy Hall (Danny Devito) moves in across the street from the conservative Dr. Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick), it quickly becomes apparent that the two men are complete opposites. While Finch met! hodically plans out every minute of the coming Christmas season for his family, Buddy craves freshness and excitement and is seized by an impulsive desire to decorate his house so brightly that it can be seen from space. While the men's wives Kelly (Kristin Davis) and Tia (Kristin Chenoweth) and their children revel in one another's differences and form solid friendships, a rivalry of personalities and Christmas spirit ensues between the two men that will wind up testing the patience and love of every member of both families. This is fun, comical holiday entertainment for the entire family ages 9 and older. --
Tami Horiuchi Beyond Deck the Halls
The Holidays on DVD | 
Matthew Broderick Films | 
Danny DeVito Films |
Stills from Deck the Halls Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/04/2011 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: PgA slapstick comedy starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito,
Deck The Halls tackles the Christmas spirit with lights, music, and plenty o' pratfalls--none of which makes much sense in this floundering film. Steve Finch (Broderick) is a persnickety dentist who enjoys being the town's go-to guy when it comes to all things Christmas. Buddy Hall (DeVito) is his new neighbor--a car salesman who finds that decorating the exterior of his house in bright, garish decorations and lights makes him feel like the big man he never was. His goal is for his Lite-Brite house to be visible from space. Why? It's better not to ask, because there really is no logical explanation. As Buddy says, "Sometimes my stupidity astounds me." The same could be said for Steve and this movie. While the characters' wives (played by Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth) are more relatable, their fast friendship is! unbelievable--especially when they side with each other rathe! r than t heir husbands. Though there are some funny moments (a dirty manger scene with a spitting camel comes to mind),
Deck The Halls spends way too much time asking the audience to root for a pair of wannabe alpha males who have little redeeming value. Both DeVito (
Get Shorty,
Taxi) and Broderick (
Election,
WarGames) have formidable resumes and deserve better than this movie, which offers strong visuals but a barely-there plot. "How's it feel to be invisible?" Steve rhetorically asks. Sometimes, being invisible is better than just being bad.
--Jae-Ha KimCHRISTMAS IN PARADISE
Two bereaved families take a holiday vacation to an exotic Caribbean island to escape the memories of Christmas past. Dan Cassidy s (Colin Ferguson, Eureka) wife has left him and his teen daughters for another man. Dana Shaw (Charlotte Ross, Glee) recently suffered the death of her husband, leaving her alone with their two teen sons. The parents and kids develop bond! s on a cruise ship and their stay at a beach resort. When Dan's ex-wife shows up to reclaim her family, what promised to be a happy Christmas turns emotionally complicated as each character has to sort out their feelings and choose their own path.
DECK THE HALLS
Holly (Gabrielle Carteris, Beverly Hills, 90210) returns to her hometown with her eight-year old son, Ben, to work for her father's toy business. Soon after, Ben watches a man (Steve Bacic, Big Love) move in next door with a sleigh, red suit, and lots of Christmas goodies. Ben begins to believe that their new neighbor is Santa Claus, and devises a plan to set up his mom with Santa Claus.Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/04/2011 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: PgA slapstick comedy starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito,
Deck The Halls tackles the Christmas spirit with lights, music, and plenty o' pratfalls--none of which makes much sense in this floundering film. Steve Finch (Broderick) is a persni! ckety dentist who enjoys being the town's go-to guy when it co! mes to a ll things Christmas. Buddy Hall (DeVito) is his new neighbor--a car salesman who finds that decorating the exterior of his house in bright, garish decorations and lights makes him feel like the big man he never was. His goal is for his Lite-Brite house to be visible from space. Why? It's better not to ask, because there really is no logical explanation. As Buddy says, "Sometimes my stupidity astounds me." The same could be said for Steve and this movie. While the characters' wives (played by Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth) are more relatable, their fast friendship is unbelievable--especially when they side with each other rather than their husbands. Though there are some funny moments (a dirty manger scene with a spitting camel comes to mind),
Deck The Halls spends way too much time asking the audience to root for a pair of wannabe alpha males who have little redeeming value. Both DeVito (
Get Shorty,
Taxi) and Broderick (
Election,
WarGames! ) have formidable resumes and deserve better than this movie, which offers strong visuals but a barely-there plot. "How's it feel to be invisible?" Steve rhetorically asks. Sometimes, being invisible is better than just being bad.
--Jae-Ha KimWhen their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest, Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip the holidays. But their decision to boycott tradition has the whole neighborhood in an uproar, and when Blair callson Christmas Eve to announce a surprise visit with her new fiancée, the Kranks have just twelve hours to perform a miracle and pull themselves and their neighbors together to throw the best celebration ever.Slapstick humor gets a full-body workout in
Christmas with the Kranks. Critics were unanimous in their derision, and John Grisham must have gnashed his teeth over what studio-boss-turned-director Joe Roth did to his bests! elling novel
Skipping Christmas, to which this broad-st! roked co medy bears little or no resemblance. The title characters are played by Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, who decide to skip Christmas because their daughter's in Peru with the Peace Corps. Thus begins a rabid program of enforced conformity when their neighbors (led by Dan Aykroyd) coerce the Kranks into changing their holiday attitude--a change that comes easily when the daughter announces she'll be home for Christmas after all. Imagine if a suburban lynch mob said "Have a Merry Christmas or we'll kill you," and you'll get some idea of what spending
Christmas with the Kranks is really like. And if you laughed at the frozen cat, you're probably on Santa's "naughty" list.
--Jeff ShannonIn the tradition of such classic films as "Miracle On 34th Street", a hip, eccentric marketing genius teaches a widow and her son the miracle of Christmas.
