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Mike Mitchell’s black comedy opens with Ben Affleck in full-charm mode as an ad exec pitching spiked eggnog to a client as a family beverage. The charm doesn’t last long, though, as Affleck’s shallow and insecure Drew finds himself facing Christmas alone. He returns to his childhood home and decides to "buy" the family who now live there for the holidays. The joke, such as it is, is that the family aren’t all that into Christmas. The parents (James Gandolfini and Catherina O’Hara) are on the verge of separation, the teenage son spends his days looking at Internet porn, and the older daughter (Christina Applegate) is joylessly cruel, offering Drew the kind of sarcastic banter that substitutes for foreplay in poorly written romantic comedies. Gandolfini is like Tony Soprano on one of his bad Lithium trips, and O’Hara teases a few jokes out of a weak role, but for the most part, everyone seems to be trying to endure. Affleck, who can play a great jerk (doubters should see Dazed and Confused) appears to be winging it; he has the air of someone reading off the cue cards in an SNL skit. Survive this movie and Christmas will be a breeze. (92 minutes)
BY BROOKE HOLGERSON
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