Home for the Holidays (1995)
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63% of critics liked it
(46 reviews) -
67% of users liked it
(12,009 ratings)
It's been said that while most people love their families, they don't always like them very much, and that emotional dividing line is the heart of this comedy directed by Jodie Foster. Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) usually approaches family reunions with a certain trepidation, but as she… More It's been said that while most people love their families, they don't always like them very much, and that emotional dividing line is the heart of this comedy directed by Jodie Foster. Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) usually approaches family reunions with a certain trepidation, but as she prepares to fly from her home in Chicago to her parent's place in Baltimore for Thanksgiving, she is more apprehensive than usual. Claudia has just lost her job, she's not feeling at all well, and her teenage daughter, Kitt (Claire Danes), who is staying behind, informs Claudia on the way to the airport that she plans to use the weekend to lose her virginity with her boyfriend. The family festivities are already under way when Claudia arrives at the home of her mother, Adele (Anne Bancroft), and father, Henry (Charles Durning). Claudia's brother, Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), whose homosexuality is tolerated without being discussed on a practical basis, has brought along his new friend Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott). Tommy doesn't get along well with his fussbudget sister, Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson), who wears her self-sacrifice like a badge of honor, and he simply hates her husband, Walter (Steve Guttenberg), who has often been the target of Tommy's barbed sense of humor. While the siblings and in-laws struggle to remain civil, their quite eccentric aunt Gladys (Geraldine Chaplin) arrives; she insists on discussing her digestive problems, and after a few drinks, she confesses her long-ago lust for Henry. Home for the Holidays was Jodie Foster's second film as a director, and the first in which she didn't also star. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jodie Foster
- Genres
- Drama, Kids & Family, Comedy
PG-13,
- In Theaters
- Nov 3, 1995 Wide
- Studio
- Passport
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, Variety
Foster's second directorial effort is a vividly drawn if too episodic portrait of an eccentric family, well acted by the entire cast, especially Holly Hunter and Robery Downey Jr.
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, Time Out
A modest film (in every sense) which pushes the gags too hard.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
Spirited but uneven.
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Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Neither caustic nor sentimental, it's a film that maybe half the people on Earth have at one time considered writing.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Foster keeps the party hopping, although more dark humor would have helped before she winds it down with sentiment and bromides.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Holly Hunter
as Claudia Larson
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Robert Downey Jr.
as Tommy Larson
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Anne Bancroft
as Adele Larson
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Charles Durning
as Henry Larson
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Geraldine Chaplin
as Aunt Glady
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Cynthia Stevenson
as Joanne
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Steve Guttenberg
as Walter Wedman
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Dylan McDermott
as Leo Fish
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Austin Pendleton
as Peter Arnold
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David Strathairn
as Russell Terziak
- Amy Yasbeck
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Randy Stone
as Man In Car
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Claire Danes
as Kitt
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Emily Ann Lloyd
as Brittany Lace
