A celluloid mirror is held up to many December family gatherings in the form of Nothing Like the Holidays,
a lively, quite well cast dramedy that captures both the grey-cloud
exasperation and silver lining of time spent cooped up with blood
relatives who remain outside of driving distance for the rest of the
year. Set amongst a sociable Puerto Rican-American family in Chicago’s
Humboldt Park area, the film leans on a strong ensemble cast to easily
trump its narrative familiarity and pat, sometimes awkward dramatic
hurdles.

The story centers on far-flung members of the Rodriguez family who converge at their parents’
home to celebrate Christmas. There’s wounded
Iraq War veteran Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez, above left), who arrives with rekindled
feelings for an old flame (Melonie Diaz), now a mother. Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito, above right) is an actress who has been
chasing Hollywood dreams for years, and is
hopeful of good news on a recent audition. Eldest brother Mauricio
(John Leguizamo, above center), meanwhile, struggles to bridge the cultural gap
between his high-powered executive wife (Debra Messing) and the rest of
his family, most particularly his mother Anna (Elizabeth Peña), who
doesn’t hide her dismay that they haven’t yet delivered her a
grandchild. Matters are thrown into disarray when Anna shocks her children by announcing that she’s divorcing their father Edy (Alfred Molina), whom she suspects of
having an affair.

Director Alfredo de Villa (Adrift in Manhattan)
has a writing background as well, which helps him locate the
authenticity in this tale: what’s endearing about a sibling one moment
can also become suddenly irritating. He achieves this primarily though
a lot of jokey, barb-filled crosstalk, but there’s some smart visual
detail too, like the photo of Puerto Rican Hall of Fame baseball player
Roberto Clemente that hangs in the background on the wall of Edy’s
modest bodega.

The script, by Alison Swan and Rick Najara, keeps most conflict at arms’ length, defined only enough to
generate momentary drama that never really seeps out of any single,
self-contained scene. Owing to this, the movie also has trouble
balancing some of the more emotionally charged moments with its
seemingly natural instinct to inject comedy, as in a sequence where
Mauricio attempts to mitigate the conflict between his parents by
inviting over the neighbouhood priest, who’s only too happy to stuff
his face with Chinese carry-out food. Still, the combined effect of all
this voluble engagement is greater than the sum of all its parts,
certainly enough to merit a shrug of good-natured acquiescence. For the full original review, from Screen International, click here. (Overture Films, PG-13, 98 minutes)