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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 56 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Home for the Holidays strikes such a perfect note that it's hard at first to realize what an impressive balancing act it is. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Foster directs the film with a sure eye for the revealing little natural moment. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Foster keeps the party hopping, although more dark humor would have helped before she winds it down with sentiment and bromides. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    Ms. Foster and the screenwriter, W. D. Richter, have given this film some peculiar mood swings, so that it starts out zanily and winds down to a wistful note. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    The movie faithfully records the rivalries among the various members of a fractious Baltimore family, but it never really attempts to resolve any of the internecine conflicts. In that sense, it's less ambitious than many a TV series. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    What results is a film with some bright spots but whose effect is finally as muddled and wearying as the event itself sometimes is. Read full review

  • 50
    Austin Chronicle | Marjorie Baumgarten

    Overall, the movie stresses the more painful and awkward moments; moments that might be classified as "heartwarming" are rare. This results in a very cynical tone and I suspect that was not the desired effect. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Susan Wloszczyna

    But director Jodie Foster and writer W.D.Richter aren't content to serve the usual Planes, Trains and Cliches at their Thanksgiving feast. With her keen actor's instincts, Foster piles on plenty for her terrific cast to chew on and for us to savor. [03 Nov 1995, Pg.01.D] Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Foster, working from a patchy, meandering script by W.D. Richter, produces scene after scene of rudderless banter. The movie is all asides, all nattering; the actors seem lost in their busy, fractious shticks. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Emanuel Levy

    But Foster is unable to give the episodic, fragmented film a coherent feel; her prosaic, sometimes irritating picture proceeds scene by scene, with the requisite climaxes and anticlimaxes along the bumpy road. Read full review

View more reviews for Home for the Holidays on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Funny, adult look at a dysfunctional holiday.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that kids will probably be bored by this movie when they aren't scandalized by its adult themes: It shows families as many of them really are -- filled with people who are struggling to understand their connection to and love for people they don't understand or really like. There's plenty of swearing, and at one point Joanne launches into a tirade about how disgusting and perverted it is that her brother is in love with another man. Claudia kisses her boss after being fired. Claudia's teenage daughter announces that she's going to have sex with her boyfriend while her mother's away for the holiday.
  • Families can talk about any similarities they have to the Larson family. How does this movie compare to traditional "holiday classics"? Which do you prefer?
  • Do you feel disconnected from your family members? What do you do to create closeness and understanding between family members who are very different?
  • Does being different have to mean hating one another?
  • How would you resolve a similar situation?
  • How does Tommy's family in Boston differ from his birth family?
The good stuff
  • message true3 Positive messages: The movie is a sensitive portrayal of a family full of individuals who don't really know one another and wouldn't be friends if they weren't related.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Every member of this family has issues, but that is their appeal. Since they aren't your family, it's okay to laugh. Just don't attempt to look to them for moral guidance.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Claudia's dad threatens to hit a child, half-jokingly. Tommy, Walter, and Leo get into a fight, and Leo's nose gets broken.
  • sex false3 Sex: Claudia makes out with her boss and, later, with a man she just met. Aunt Gladys admits a crush on her brother-in-law and kisses him during a crazy Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of sexual innuendo.
  • language false3 Language: Language includes "dammit," "son of a bitch," "holy s--t," "asshole," etc. Joanne lights into Tommy with an anti-gay tirade.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Jack in the Box gets a shout-out.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Claudia's mom chain-smokes, and Claudia smokes pot. There's considerable fighting fueled by holiday drinking.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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