Review of Home for the Holidays (1995) by Stuart K — 10 Aug 2010

Jodie Foster's second film as a director after Little Man Tate (1991), this is a sweet and offbeat little comedy-drama based on a short story by Chris Radant. It's a good little ensemble piece which focuses on the upheavals and stresses of a long American tradition, on the basis of this film, we should have it too.

It has art restorer Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) being fired from her job due to budget cutbacks, the day she's due to fly out to her parents home in New York for Thanksgiving weekend, her parents are Adele (Anne Bancroft) and Henry (Charles Durning), who are quite eccentric.

Also rounding out this family gathering is Claudia's homosexual brother Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.) and his latest squeeze Leo (Dylan McDermott), and there's the other sister, the prudish Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) along with her stuff husband Walter (Steve Guttenberg) and their two children, oh and there's their mad Aunt Gladys (Geraldine Chaplin).

What a happy family they turn out to be over this period, as alot of truths come out and the family is on the verge of breakdown. It's a good little film, which has been forgotten about since it was first released, but Downey Jr.

absolutely steals the film as the gay brother, and Bancroft and Durning are wonderful. Foster should direct more films on the strength of this film.