Movies That Deserve More Love: Top 5 Holiday Movies

Bah, humbug.

I don’t always watch holiday movies because sometimes they pull all the wrong heartstrings, feature stupid kids or hit schmaltzy pratfalls. But occasionally – very occasionally – someone in Hollywood gets it right. The following are five movies ranging from full-out seasonal cheer to questionable picks in the name of easy entertainment, sorted in order of increasing personal preference.

Click (2006)

Adam Sandler plays a man who finds a magical remote control in a Bed Bath and Beyond store that allows him to pause, rewind, and fast-forward time. While initially convenient in skipping corporate meetings, traffic jams, and foreplay, the remote control eventually goes rogue and proceeds to skip past best parts of his life, including watching his children grow up.

Click isn’t actually a holiday movie – it takes place in the summer – but plot-wise it feels like a heartrending reinterpretation of A Christmas Story, which is good enough to put it on the list. I can’t believe that Adam Sandler could pull that off. Adam Sandler is not a mature guy. He’s shameless and self-indulgent when showing off things like humping dogs and flapping empty belly-skin. But he’s equally shameless in pulling heartstrings in Click, including the universal but seldom-addressed fear of aging and missing family. I dislike Adam Sandler yet I still cried like a baby.

Make the Yuletide Gay (2009)

The unfortunately-named Olaf is an openly gay college student who hasn’t actually come out to his parents. Then his boyfriend Nathan arrives unexpectedly for the holidays, while Olaf finds it increasingly difficult to maintain his heterosexual façade.

The budget is visibly low but the acting is enthusiastic, which is good since there’s no other way to pull off all the “innocent” innuendos that keep popping up. If you took a drink every time Olaf’s mother made an offhand remark about top vs. bottom bunks or cocktail sausages, you’d be hospitalized before the halfway point. Also notable is Olaf’s father, a pot-smoking philosophy professor who whispered the meaning of life into Olaf’s ear when he was a baby and promptly forgot it because he was “high as a kite”.

Make the Yuletide Gay is a cheerful comedy about the importance of family, and by extension, is an excellent holiday movie.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Murtagh the cop, on the verge of retirement, is paired with the self-destructive Riggs. They spend about 48 hours bonding over bullets, beer, and boat repair.

Perhaps you wonder why Die Hard (1988) isn’t on the list. Well, Lethal Weapon has a stronger holiday connection and less extraneous characters like that idiot cop on the ground in Die Hard, even if Die Hard does have the Alan Rickman advantage. Besides, Lethal Weapon sports a hauntingly mad-eyed and bushy-haired Mel Gibson as Rigg, who I’m sure evens out the odds somewhat.

Comparisons aside, I’m continually amazed at how much plot Lethal Weapon energetically stacks on top of bullet casings on top of male bonding on top of the eternal importance of family. There’s a holiday dinner, a tree-chopping scene, and possibly the most poignant Christmas gifts ever presented in the history of action movies.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

An Ice Age descends upon the Northern Hemisphere, trapping Jake Gyllenhall and his academic decathalon team in New York while his father treks across the Frozen States of America to rescue him.

This is a Roland Emmerich movie. It is also my favourite Roland Emmerich movie, though it that isn’t saying much in terms of the quality of this movie. And the only thing that qualifies it as a holiday movie is how massive and scenic amounts of snow delay a heartwarming family reunion, and that the scenes with Ian Holm and his fellow Scottish meteorologists getting snowed in around a fireplace are very cozy. Plus, Jake Gyllenhall hooks up with fellow academic decathlete Emmy Rossum. Overall, The Day After Tomorrow manages to be as satisfying as drinking tea under a quilt by an electric roaring fire.

Love Actually (2003)

At least a dozen strangers rediscover the many meanings of love as the clock ticks down to Christmas Day. That’s the best I can do, sorry.

I think Love Actually wins over my heart for being unafraid to pack itself to the gills with storylines. It keeps the movie from drifting into the boring and contrived at the minor cost of being unable to keep track of characters. But who cares? Love Actually is populated by a cast of highly capable British actors playing decent human beings. The storylines are warm and lovely and beautiful. There’s something for everyone, including the bitter critic writing this article. And if Love Actually doesn’t embody the togetherness of holiday season, nothing does.

Happy holidays, everyone!