Ben Affleck stars as Drew Latham, a rich, lonely advertising executive who is afraid of commitment and afraid of getting close to people. When his girlfriend, Missy Vanglider played by Jennifer Morrison, corners him just before Christmas into meeting his family, he skirts the issue by offering to take her to Fiji for Christmas. After proclaiming that Christmas is a time for family and holiday merriment, Missy leaves him.

Finding himself alone and just before Christmas, he corners Missy’s therapist to find out what to do, who tells him to make a list of grievances he has against his family, go to a place that reminds him of his childhood and burn it, thus releasing it from himself and sending it into the universe. Hence the next scene.

Drew then takes a cab to the residence of his youth and proceeds to burn his list of grievances on the front lawn. The now owner of the house, Tom Valco played by James Gandofini, hits him in the head with a snow shovel. Drew wakes up inside the house, but before leaving, he begs the family to see the rest of the house. The family tries to be cordial; however, Drew soon wears out his welcome and is asked to leave. He begs the family to let him stay and ends up offering the family $250,000 to let him stay for the week until after Christmas. The family accepts and the mayhem begins.

The movie has its lucid moments; however, Ben Affleck’s character Drew ends up irritating the viewer more than he does the screen family he is barging in on and comes off as being crazy and out of touch with reality, which he is not. It is not until half way through the movie that the viewer develops compassion for him upon learning that his father left when he was four. His mother worked as a waitress in a diner, working overtime on Christmas. As a child, he would go down to the diner and his mother would buy him a double stack of adult pancakes and that was his Christmas. Upon learning this, the viewer realizes that, by staying with the family, he is trying to create a childhood that he never had. However, by the time this epiphany results, it is almost too late.

The movie has the makings of being great, but misses the mark. Ben Affleck lacks something in his interpretation of the character as well as in his performance. Christina Applegate is one of the saving graces of the film, giving a stellar performance; however, she can not save the movie alone. It was cute, but needed work. I give it two stars out of five.