COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

DECK THE HALLS

I didn't get to many chances to watch some Christmas movies that much last month because of certain things but this one I did catch. I have heard people say they loved this movie and others say they hated it, I fall somewhere in the middle I suppose. At first glance this seems like it has the potential to be a holiday classic. Sadly after watching this it falls flat and never reaches the level of entertainment the actors can deliver. Still this is not a horrible movie or at least to me. It may be the things going on with me lately that makes me feel like a need an escape ever once in a while but I thought the film was ok.

Steve Finch [Broderick] is a man set in his ways who believes in traditions and is about to begin his duties of planning the town Christmas. That is until a man named Buddy Hall [Danny DeVito] moves in across the street, then things don't seem to go his way. Buddy is a guy that is bored with life and just wants to find his purpose in life. It turns out that purpose may be to annoy his neighbor in trying to be seen from space. So as Buddy try's to light his house up with Christmas lights the neighbors go to war. Subtle at first but as the war rages on it gets nastier, even costing them their families.

I found this film to be a little tame at times because before watching it I really thought they went all out on each other. Tame may not be the right word but I thought they went at it harder. Things get childish at times which may be another downfall in this film but to be honest sometimes it is entertaining. I kinda expected a little more of a war between the two especially since the three writers on this film have done some entertaining films in the past. That may be indeed be the problem, the script and not the actors.

To be honest as far as acting goes this film is pretty good since they are only performing what is on the page. DeVito is pretty entertaining to me in this one since he is very believable in the role. Same can be said for Broderick who seems like the type that could be up tight like his character. Everyone in the film do good jobs from the wives to the towns' people. Director John Whitesell who has done some good stuff especially in the TV world could be at fault as well for not helping the film reach its full potential.

To be fair the film is not horrible and can be an entertaining at times, in fact it is a good natured movie. The cast does bring something to it that it needed and like I said I enjoyed especially for what is going on right now. I do recommend this movie with the brain off and as a rental. I know people who don't like this film but I do know others who do, if I had to choose I would say I am one of those who do.

Cute, silly movie

Even though this movie has been out for a while, my family just got around to watching it last night. I love Christmas movies and was looking forward to seeing something new. We really enjoyed it, but you have to go into realizing it's silly funny and relies on slapstick humor. Nothing earth-shattering but still an enjoyable way to spend the evening. It's fairly predictable with two neighbors fighting for dominance to see who will be the "Christmas King" and both losing sight of the true spirit of Christmas. Everything gets so out of control that they manage to make total fools out of themselves but it's pretty humorous to watch. :-)

I particularly enjoyed the casting of the two wives (Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth). They were both great in their respective roles and played well off of each other --

Fun and entertaining !

Deck The Halls

I bought this movie in December 2008 Used it works great and it is a wonderful movie to watch very funny i would want people to watch this they also air it on tv but watching the DVD is better because the tv skips out on good parts i rate it 5 stars

Funny

Im not sure why this movie has been given such low reviews. I watched it on TV for the 1st time and thought it was very funny!! I had to then go and buy it so I could watch it again!! Loved It!!!

I wish I could have that 93 minutes of my life back

I really wanted to like this movie, but, unfortunately, it was just awful. Several times I felt like shutting it off, but I was determined to see it through to the end, hoping it might eventually be funny (my wife fell asleep half way through). For a movie that featured famous actors and appeared to have a decent budget, it was simply poorly written and not funny. Yes, the special effects house they put together was quite interesting to see, and the movie did include some nice holiday music, but it just never came together. Both of the main characters (Broderick and DeVito) were annoying in their own ways (if not creepy for DeVito and family), leading you to never feel real sympathy or empathy for either of their causes. As previous reviewers have stated, much of the attempted humor used overdone versions of things you've seen in other holiday movies (more is not better), and much of it ripped off Christmas Vacation (think Griswold house, runaway scene, tangles of plugs, burned Christmas tree, etc). Plus, many premises written into the script were just stupid or poorly thought out. For example, how can you see a house from outer space when it's snowing? Ever seen it snow with no clouds? Dumb. I think in this whole movie I might have laughed twice.

Comedies I like to get in the Christmas mood are:
Christmas Vacation, Elf, A Christmas Story, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Jingle All the Way, The Santa Clause, Home Alone, or any of the old Rankin-Bass puppet movies.

Holiday movies I like that are more thought-provoking are:
It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol (Alistair Sim my favorite), Miracle on 34th Street