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Nothing new in ‘Nothing Like the Holidays'

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Indeed, there is “nothing like the holidays” to bring a family together, offering reason to celebrate and to demonstrate true familial dysfunction and, in the end, love. At least this is the case with my family and I am pretty sure countless others. “Nothing Like the Holidays” offers yet another look at family angst at Christmas. Bringing together an all-star Latino cast, director Alfredo De Villa garners laughter and drama in this holiday film, but while I enjoyed the cast greatly, the story falls long on over-sentimentality and short on real purpose and depth.

I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and know well many traditions of the Mexican-American Christmas, but little about other Latin cultures. In “Nothing Like the Holidays,” we meet the Puerto Rican-American Rodriguez family as its members gather for the holidays. The youngest son Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez) returns from being wounded in Iraq, daughter Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito) arrives from Beverly Hills, where she is attempting to break into stardom, eldest son and successful businessman Mauricio (John Leguizamo) and his executive wife Sarah (Debra Messing) all come home to New Jersey only to find that their parents Anna (Elizabeth Peña) and Edy (Alfred Molina) are headed for divorce.

There is nothing particularly fresh in the story scripted by Rick Najera and Alison Swan. What is done here has been done before with all-black casts, mixed casts and, well, just about every other cast possible - the more dysfunction the better. To be certain, De Villa definitely knows his Latino environment and does a delightful job drawing us into the characters and focusing on the culture. There is a particularly telling scene - to which I could relate - where Sarah, even after being married to Mauricio for years, feebly attempts to assimilate herself by speaking to Anna in Spanish - almost painfully producing perfectly pronounced phrases while Anna uses condescending facial expressions and Spanish verbal barbs.

While the story falters overall and offers few truly fresh moments, the cast is remarkably well chosen and the actors make a convincing family. Peña's character Anna truly presents the matriarchal role and carries many of the more serious scenes while Molina is left to carry the more sentimental and harsh moments, which he does well. Leguizamo, who flexed his dramatic acting muscles in television's “ER” and in this, again demonstrates his versatility as an actor - not falling into his typical jovial, goofy-guy persona. Messing, who has matured a great deal, performs wonderfully and convincingly as Sarah, the outsider trying so desperately to fit into a culture and family so obviously different than her own.

Others in the cast, especially Rodriguez as Jesse, steal several scenes and super-funny Luis Guzmán, a true Puerto Rican, garners some of the film's most hilarious lines and moments. Ferlito and co-star sexy Jay Hernandez bring some romantic sparks, but a side story with Hernandez's character, Ozzy, and a former gang rival did little to improve or add to the story. In fact, it slightly annoyed me - if for nothing more than the fact that “Nothing Like the Holidays” is meant to be a comedy.

Ultimately the story is about family - in this case an interesting and likable Puerto Rican clan - and the true meaning and connection of family, and to that end it does succeed. As far as Christmas/holiday films go, worse have been made and this cast is exceptional - I cannot express that enough. That said, little is new or different than many other films in the family home-for-the-holidays genre. Some aspects are so cookie-cutter-ish, regardless of the cultural focus.

Compared to another holiday offering, I personally prefer the more realistic, engaging PG-13-rated “Nothing Like the Holidays” over the inanity of “Four Christmases.” I like less slapstick and more depth of character, as in this film, whereas my husband preferred the silly humor of the Witherspoon-Vaughn combo. To his credit, he did not fall asleep in “Nothing Like the Holidays,” though he did squirm some. In the end, he too praised the actors, and I wish I could score just the nearly perfect cast. But alas, I must rate the film as a whole, so I am placing a C+ in my gradebook - overall it is better than average, but just barely.

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