Actors: Anna Kendrick, Melaine Lynskey
Director: Joe Swanberg
Rated: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Run Time: 82 minutes
Film: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: N/A
Personally, I am not huge fan of writer/director Joe Swanberg. Really hated his film “Drinking Buddies”. So I decided to give this one a try due to my love for Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect”). Despite the title, the film does really scream holiday spirit. I obviously wasn’t the right audience of this film. I am finding that I have very little patience for pretentious indie dramedies. A pass for me for sure but I am sure many trendy film buffs are going to gobble this dysfunctional family flick right up.
Official Premise: Anna Kendrick plays Jenny, an irresponsible 20-something who comes to Chicago to live with her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), a young filmmaker living a happy existence with his novelist wife Kelly (Lynskey) and their two-year-old son. Jenny’s arrival shakes up their quiet domesticity as she and her friend Carson (Dunham) instigate an evolution in Kelly’s life and career. Meanwhile, Jenny strikes up a rocky relationship with the family’s baby sitter-cum-pot dealer (Webber).
The rest of the cast includes Melanie Lynskey (“Heavenly Creatures”), Mark Webber (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”), Lena Dunham (“Girls”) and Joe Swanberg (“Drinking Buddies”). Honestly, not fond of any of the other cast. Good performances surely but they don’t really win me over. Paramount is only giving this film a DVD only release, not that this film would have really shines on Blu-ray either, just noting its faith in this film. There is no digital HD copy included either here. Lastly, there are no special features included at all.