Sticking with the theme of “so dumb it’s good” comedies, since Arnold Schwarzenegger made his comedy breakthrough with Danny DeVito in Twins, I figured this would be a good place to introduce the fourth entry: Deck the Halls (2006)
Directed by John Whitesell
Written By Matt Corman, Chris Ord, and Don Rhymer
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Danny DeVito, Kristin Davis, and Kristin Chenoweth
Steve Finch is the resident “Mr. Christmas” in his small town of Cloverdale but when Buddy Hall and his family move in across the street, the competition begins. Steve and Buddy don’t see eye-to-eye on life and those differences trickle down into their approach to celebrating Xmas. When Buddy decides to make the decorations on his house visible from space, the rivalry gets kicked into high gear.
The movie based on hijinks, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good, mindless holiday fun as well. While the script is intentionally outlandish, it paves the way for some ridiculous performances from Matthew Broderick (Steve) and Danny DeVito (Buddy). Broderick has an unassuming charm that is a great place for Steve to start, but the best part of this movie is watching his exterior dissolve under the constant annoyance of DeVito’s abrasive Buddy. If you don’t want to watch those two engage in psychological warfare over innocuous nonsense, well then you’re not ready for Xmas.
There’s no question that Broderick and DeVito are the crown jewel of this movie but Kristin Davis is perfect as Steve’s wife Kelly, who’s trying to act as a voice of reason, and Kristin Chenoweth is great as Buddy’s perky wife, Tia. We also get a good performance from Alia Shawkat as Steve and Kelly’s daughter Madison. Even Fred Armisen has a small role, so there’s plenty of comedy firepower to go around.
This is one of the more traditional Christmas movies I’ll have on the list but it’s also pretty outlandish and off the wall at times. You can rent Deck the Halls through most video on-demand services, but it’s cheapest on Vudu and Amazon.
Happy Holidays!