I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A lonely, obnoxious young millionaire pays a family to spend Christmas with him. Surviving Christmas is nowhere near as bad as everyone was saying for years and it's totally nowhere near as bad as a 19/100 which it got in Metacritic and sure some characters are not get developed really well and it's not the greatest Christmas movie ever made but i still enjoyed it mostly because of Ben Affleck i think he was hilarious and James Gandolfini was also really good i also liked the reason why he spend Christmas alone with nobody around him and even tho there could be more emotion in it and and like i said certain characters for example like the son could have been developed much better but still it was pretty funny, dramatic at times and the whole cast did a nice job.

Surviving Christmas is a lame and offensive comedy that suffers from a silly and unbelievable story and a really obnoxious lead character.This 2004 comedy stars Ben Affleck as Drew Latham, a young and extremely wealthy businessman who, after being dumped by his fiancée, travels to his hometown where he plans to spend Christmas. He goes to the actual house he grew up in and offers to pay the family currently residing there a stupid amount of money to allow him to move into his old bedroom for Christmas and for this family to actually pretend to be HIS family for the holidays. We watch as Drew butts head with the family patriarch (James Gandolfini), brings Mom (Catherine O'Hara) out of the shell she didn't even realize she was in, and begin a very rocky romance with the daughter (Christina Applegate) home from college who is adamantly against this whole arrangement.This film grates on the nerves from jump, primarily because the leading character has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. We see the way he runs his business and the way he throws money at anything that doesn't go his way and you just want to punch the guy in the face. Affleck's performance doesn't help matters, which can best be described as uneven.What the film does have going for it is a pair of first rate performances from Gandolfini and O'Hara as Tom and Christine Valco, the couple who agree to this charade despite the effects it has on their holiday season and their marriage. Gandolfini's dry and understated delivery is a perfect compliment to Affleck's scenery chewing and almost makes the proceedings bearable...almost. Strictly for hardcore fans of the late James Gandolfini.

I really enjoyed this film, and I think it is more interesting and certainly more believable than the ridiculous scenarios foisted upon us by the writers of Christmas Vacation. The performances by all the cast members ring true, again as compared to the aforementioned supposed "classic" National Lampoon production. The story makes sense, as set up in the beginning when Drew gets dumped by Misty, and Christina Applegate's performance is authentic. The chemistry between Ms. Applegate and Mr. Affleck is palpable and I was won over by their growing attraction to each other. The supporting cast, particularly James Gandolfini as Ben's "father" and Katherine O'Hara as his "mother" , create interesting, well rounded characters whose lives come together again as the result of the new family situation they find themselves in. bill Macey is very believable as Drew's grandfather , or "DooDah." I realize I am probably in the minority in terms of finding the film quite entertaining, but that is the truth.

This doesn't deserve neither the poor profits nor the evil reputation (released to DVD 9 weeks after its release !). True Ben Affleck is here but – surprisingly – it's not as bad as in other movies ! The story is simple with funny characters. It achieved a good balance between comedy and having a message. Though, the main problem remains in the script. Some weakness blemished it, especially in the second half with forced love story; between the lead and the family's daughter, making up situations between them through a snow ride that didn't complete, let alone unintelligible reconciliations between all at the end; the husband and wife, the lead and the daughter.So the climax is brittle to an extent weakens the final effect, but nothing could deny the cuteness of the characters, even if their details were improvised (as Gandolfini said once, critically!). I loved the opening credits with parodying the too happy Christmas's songs, with wicked dark sense that ridiculed as well as lamented our present days. The pace was talented. The situations, if a bit ribald, were comic. In fact there was distinct humor all over it; remember the fake dream that Affleck's character prepared then canceled in the nick of time; lovely cartoonish (in terms of cartoon; all the movie works as a Simpsons episode). And it's enough to say that I liked Affleck in a comedy, well, it's like saying I watched the devil in paradise !Overall, there was a comedy and a meaning. Both did survive eventually. And if this movie was called names, nominated for Razzies, then watch other Affleck's movies, and other Christmas's ones, to know how clever (Surviving Christmas) is. Then watch real BAD movies, from the same year, that didn't get any nomination for even one Razzie, such as Soul Plane, The Whole Ten Yards, The Ladykillers, Ocean's Twelve, The Village, and Napoleon Dynamite, to know how wronged (Surviving Christmas) is, also !