Home For the Holidays (1995)

"A thoroughly entertaining slice of life!  The Hollywood Reporter
"Two Thumbs Up!  Siskel & Ebert

Editor's Note This all-star, all-too-familiar tale revolves around the Thanksgiving turkey that lures a young woman home every year to her typical American family only to be embarrassed all over again by her loony relatives.

	Anne Bancroft
	Charles Durning
	Holly Hunter
	Robert Downey Jr.
	Jodie Foster - Director
	Lajos Koltai - Director of Photography
	Mark Isham - Musical Score
	Jodie Foster, et al. - Producer
	Chris Radant - Story By
	W.D. Richter - Writer

It's Thanksgiving, so you know what that means -- dinner with your family, for better or for worse. But Claudia Larson's woes begin right before she flies home: she loses her job, and her teenage daughter swears she will lose her virginity while Claudia is away. And when she arrives at her parents' home, things do not improve, thanks to Claudia's quirky family. This includes her meddling mom, an obnoxious gay brother, her unsmiling, resentful sister, and a very odd, flatulent aunt. The next two days will prove difficult for Claudia, but they will not be without moments of tenderness, caring and love.

"I can see your roots, Claudia." ---- Adele Larson (ANNE BANCROFT) to her daughter, who has just come home to visit.

"So why isn't some man from Japan giving you $63 million for one lousy picture?" ---- Adele Larson (ANNE BANCROFT) to her daughter, Claudia (HOLLY HUNTER).

"Who are these people? Where did I even come from?" ---- Claudia Larson (HOLLY HUNTER), to herself, speaking about her family.

Sight and Sound
"...Wonderful performances....Refreshingly, this is a film which stretches the definition of family comedy..." 12/01/1996 p.47-8

USA Today
"...The script slices under the skin of this bird, pricking the festering tension that surfaces at any clan gathering..." -- 3 out of 4 stars 11/03/1995 p.1D

Variety
"...An affectionately drawn, multigenerational portrait of an eccentric family....[With] a saucy, shrewdly selected cast..." 10/30/1995

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
What is just right about Home For The Holidays is that none of the characters act as if they are experiencing any of this for the first time... Foster directs the film with a sure eye for revealing little natural moments... Holly Hunter is a wonderful actress... - Roger Ebert

San Francisco Chronicle 7 of 10
...strikes such a perfect note that it's hard to at first realize what an impressive balancing act it is... Neigher caustic nor sentimental, it's a film that maybe half the people walking the earth have at one time considered writing... Until I saw this movie I thought only my family was like this... [it] will hit a lot of people where they live. - Mick LaSalle