This Christmas (2007)

55% of critics liked it
(82 reviews)
82% of users liked it
(71,360 ratings)

Upon gathering together under one roof for the first time in seven years, an estranged family celebrating Christmas rediscovers long-forgotten bonds in this holiday family reunion drama starring Delroy Lindo, Regina King, and Mekhi Phifer. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: Preston A. Whitmore II
Written By: Preston A. Whitmore
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Nov 21, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Nov 11, 2008
Studio: Sony Pictures

Critic Reviews

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
o matter how silly the situation, each member of the uniformly strong cast creates a nice balance between sentimental and sweet -- which is just how every holiday gathering should feel.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
I could actually see this becoming kind of a minor perennial during the holidays.
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
If the real-life Christmas experience tends too often to be marred by the rude contradiction between expectations and reality, movies like the ultra-bland holiday family movie This Christmas are at least partly to blame.
Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail
An incoherent mess in which scenes of teary reconciliations sit uncomfortably next to protracted gags involving catfights, car wrecks and a big bottle of baby oil.
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
This carefully observed film has lots of heart.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
This Christmas is not your typical family holiday movie, and thank goodness for that. It's warm, witty and alive, with a fantastic cast and a belief in its characters that transcends its formulaic tendencies.
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel, 3BlackChicks Review
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Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
A happy Christmas package that more or less ignores the fact that it's a black American family story
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
A little too soapy for my tastes.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
Quite convincing in conveying the feeling of a real family, and in generating the requisite chemistry or antipathy as called for by their dysfunctional characters' dire circumstances.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A nearly XXXmas, juiced up with jazz, jive and one secretive sister's main squeeze, her vibrator hidden away in mama's bedroom drawer.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Family holiday dramedy has some iffy content.
Lori Hoffman, Atlantic City Weekly
If you're looking for a film that celebrates the holiday spirit, This Christmas would be my first suggestion because it's heartfelt and not too sweet.
Linda Cook, Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Here's a family you'll want to visit for the holidays. Maybe you'll event want to stay through New Year's.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
...there's a genuine feeling of a real family's real Christmas, with all its heat as well as warmth, the kind of thing that's missing from the plastic platitudes of holiday junk like Fred Claus...
Wilson Morales, BlackFilm.com
While formula is still the same, it's quite amusing, romantic, and a delightful holiday treat for a family to enjoy.
Eric Lurio, Entertainment Insiders
This is a very entertaining movie, despite all the inplausablities, and doesn't get down to the insipidness of most Holiday family outings.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
If you like schmaltzy, music-saturated family movies, This Christmas will set all the right bells jingling.
, Independent
"Destined to become a Yuletide classic, " claim the press notes. Well, they do say Christmas is a time for dreaming.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

It was okay for a Christmas movie. Gets a bit sentimental at the end, but I think that's true of most for this genre. On the whole I enjoyed it and it was nice to see a Christmas movie focusing on an African American family. The one thing that really bothered me and is the… More
It was okay for a Christmas movie. Gets a bit sentimental at the end, but I think that's true of most for this genre. On the whole I enjoyed it and it was nice to see a Christmas movie focusing on an African American family. The one thing that really bothered me and is the reason i took a half star off my rating, is because of the baby oil beating scene. Yes, I got that the husband was a liar and sleaze and had been treating his wife like crap for years, but that was really pretty bad. If it had have been the husband doing that to the wife, I don't think it would have been portrayed in a humorous light. Beating is still beating, it is wrong whoever does it. Anyhow, that small issue aside, this was an enjoyable movie, good to watch at Christmas time. Likeable cast and some laughs and dysfunction mixed in with the cheese.
Wahida K

Too much Family Drama Movie for me.
Manu G

Just to watch when you got nothing to do else, it was an ok movie nothing big. A Christmas time drama centered around the Whitfield family's first holiday together in four years
Fascade F

This is one soulful and incredible "home for the holidays" family movie. This particular family the Whitfields have had their ups and downs and have returned home for the holidays after 4 years. Join them as they get ready to celebrate the joy of the holiday season.
William G

Thoroughly familiar w/o restricting its genial appeal to any one demographic.
Audrey L

Loved the baby oil scene-muwahahahahaha!
Janice :

Xmas no-brainer. I originally marked this as "not interested", but once my sister rented it and there was nothing else to do, I thought: why not? And to be honest, the trailer is Really misleading because this is actually a pretty good laid-back watch.