Oh. What, Fun., 2025.
Directed by Michael Showalter.
Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Dominic Sessa, Danielle Brooks, Devery Jacobs, Havana Rose Liu, Maude Apatow, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, and Joan Chen.
SYNOPSIS:
Claire plans a special Christmas, but is forgotten by her family. When they realize that she’s missing, their holiday is at risk until she returns to give them the celebration they deserve.
We are never short of new Christmas films, and the latest seasonal offering from Amazon, director Michael Showalter’s Oh. What. Fun, will generate interest down to its stellar cast including Michell Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Dominic Sessa, Eva Longoria, Chloë Grace Moretz and Jason Schwartzman. Is this a future yuletide classic or one to skip? Even with a cast as strong as this, there is a sense of a missed opportunity despite Pfeiffer’s best efforts.
Claire (Pfeiffer) is the family matriarch, who takes her Christmas preparations seriously and yearns to be featured on a festive mum award on a show hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). As is tradition in the Clauster household, the family descends upon Claire, including her children Channing (Jones), Taylor (Moretz) and son Sammy (Sessa), in somewhat of a funk after a recent breakup.
Of course, things don’t go to plan, with a series of mishaps and escapades, the final straw, Claire being left at home by her family on the way to a festive show. Claire feels utterly dejected at the lack of realisation from her family at the amount of effort she puts in.
The cast do their best to keep things on course; however, it can’t help but feel like a rehash of things done better elsewhere. The size of the cast means we struggle to connect in a meaningful way to them. We simultaneously follow Taylor’s relationship with Donna, Sammy’s breakup and interactions with childhood friend Lizzie. In under two hours, this is a lot to cram in, with the main focus being Claire and her frustration.
It’s not without moments of fun and chaos that are par for the course in festive films but with a cast this strong, this should certainly be a stronger effort. Watching Sessa here is a big comedown from his work just two years ago in the modern classic The Holdovers, one of the best recent seasonal films.
Oh. What. Fun. is a perfectly serviceable film to have on in the background during the festive period but is held back from reaching the heights of the top tier of Christmas flicks by awkward pacing, a lack of developed characters and a series of clichés. It wastes its all-star, eclectic cast and intriguing premise, simply going through the motions.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Chris Connor
