The Rizz Review: Deck The Halls
Posted by Randy Isbelle on 11.01.2007
Does Deck The Halls bring something original, or does it just fall into the pile of yearly Christmas movies? Find out as The Rizz jumps over to the Movie Zone for the first time to give you the review.
Deck The Halls
Danny DeVito – Buddy Hall
Matthew Broderick – Steve Finch
Kristen Davis – Kelly Finch
Kristin Chenoweth – Tia Hall
Alia Shawkat – Madison Finch
Dylan Blue – Carter Finch
Sabrina Aldridge – Ashley Hall
Kelly Aldridge – Emily Hall
Jorge Garcia – Wallace
Fred Armisen – Gustave
Gillian Vigman – Gerta
Ryan Devlin – Bob Murray
Sean O’Bryan – Mayor Young
Theatrical release – November 22, 2006
DVD release – November 6, 2007
Runtime – 95 min
Rating: PG
Awards – Young Artist Award – Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actor Age Ten or Younger: Dylan Blue
Steve Finch lives in the small town of Cloverdale, Massachusetts, where he is respected and liked by everybody in the town, that is, until a new neighbor comes along. Finch lives a quiet, organized life as the town’s optometrist as well as the town’s Christmas season organizer, something Finch holds dear to his heart. Even though the family dislikes the same routine year after year, Finch is steadfast in his approach of scheduling out the family Christmas season on his December calendar. This Christmas seems like any other until Finch is startled by a late night noise, a moving truck is pulling in across the street, and even though he doesn’t know it, his world is about to be flipped upside down.
Moving in is Buddy Hall along with wife and bombshell twin daughters, Buddy continues to move from place to place as he is never content with his life or living arrangements. He and his family have moved to Cloverdale to look for yet another start, as Buddy now has a job for the local car dealership. The Hall family is “a little” different then the Finch family, as they are a lot more open about their feelings, as well as other things, as well as totally spontaneous.
The real story begins when Buddy’s daughters find a new website that allows you to see your neighborhood from space, but they can’t seem to find their own house. This leads to Buddy having a life altering decision as he decides right there and then that he is done with being in the background and unnoticed and he will start by lighting his house up in so many Christmas lights that his house will be seen from space. While attempting this, Buddy becomes a favorite around town, especially in the Christmas department, which Steve takes offense too. And for the rest of the movie, the two basically try and one up each other to take control of the towns affection, along with driving the other one mad.
This movie has some wonderful sections in which you will find yourself laughing out loud, however the movie stumbles in two major areas that really affect the movie as a whole. The first is that in all actuality, this is just another Christmas time movie, and there are too many clichéd things that happen. Although the movie does attempt new and original ideas, there is just too many times where they fall back on a basic and take the easy way out. The second, and biggest thing to me, was the fact that right as the movie gets you sucked in and laughing with your family, it just dies, and then stays dead for 15-20 minutes before picking back up. And it does this more then once, like you are on a cycle; build story, funny segment, very funny segment, hilarity, deep conversation, build story, repeat and reuse. There are too many moments where it seems to drag and makes you disinterested in the actual story, which in reality, is pretty deep. Unfortunately, the cycle takes you in and out of the movie, and you are not allowed to actually enjoy the story.
The 411: Deck The Halls attempts to break out of the clichéd Christmas movie, but it falls short. If you have a young family, this is a movie you might want to check out, as it has things for all different ages. However, if you are just looking for a Christmas movie for yourself, or for you and your loved one, you may want to let this one pass. The lack of DVD extras really makes this a rent option at best.
