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Accidental Rewatch Movie Review: A Merry Friggin Christmas (2014)

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Let me get this off my chest: A Merry Friggin Christmas is a terrible movie. It’s even worse to compute, knowing the absolute talent behind it. Here’s my experience: after a first watch — then re-watch immediately again — of Dan Harmon’s cult classic Community, I wanted more of the same humor, heart, and homage.

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Joel McHale is still Jeff Winger

So I looked at movies I could stream starring Community ‘straight man’ Joel McHale. On Pluto TV I found A Merry Friggin Christmas, which also starred Robin Williams and Candice Bergen. Wow! Now we are A-listing!

Also involved are other greats connected with Community, like the writer/showrunner team the Russo Brothers, Tristram Shapeero as director, and Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson. How could such talent make something else so relentlessly difficult to watch? It’s cringe-humor stuff, all of it, if you like that type of humor.

Joel McHale is almost completely hindered by the character writing here, which does him no favors. A little bit of his role as Jeff Winger shines through, but only the “I’m irritated at these shenanigans” part.

And there are shenanigans galore, but nothing exciting. There are so many better holiday films featuring crazy Christmas situations, a rush against a ticking clock, drunken Santas, and supremely dysfunctional families. I’d even recommend Chevy Chase’s (another Community alum) in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation instead. And I didn’t even like Christmas Vacation. There’s a funny bit about Bea Arthur and the Golden Girls, but that was my only genuine smile.

And Robin Williams is not good here. He plays against type, but it doesn’t sit well on him. Knowing this was around the worst of his depressive period shows. RIP, esteemed treasure.

But what’s A Merry Friggin Christmas about?

There isn’t a plot, really, beyond: “Must get Christmas MacGuffin by any means possible by morning.”

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Got this back when I was pregnant, but I’ll be keeping it forever, it’s just so handy. I don’t go to the movie theater that often (even back before quarantine when you actually could…) but I make sure the app and the movie list are all current and updated, cause it’s so handy! It’s great for running late cause you can read their

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summary, obviously awesome for bathroom or snack breaks mid movie, and I also love that it tells you if there’s anything after the credits which is very handy.

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I only finished watching this film for you. I told myself that at the very least I could review the movie for the Christmas Movie Hub here on RunPee.com.

Well, that’s all I did get out of it. And here you are…

Movie Grade: D

FUN FACT: I didn’t remember that I actually saw and reviewed this movie previously on RunPee.com. I honestly remembered nothing; that’s how good it was. I had more to say about Robin Williams in that 2018 review because I think it was among his last projects. It seems A Merry Friggin Christmas improved a bit since my last viewing: I gave it a D- before. Small yay?

There is an onscreen dedication to Williams before the credits.

The Deadpool Before Christmas

Rewatch Movie Review – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

 

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Comments

2 responses to “Accidental Rewatch Movie Review: A Merry Friggin Christmas (2014)”

  1. Michael F Avatar
    Michael F

    You didn’t like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”? What kind of anti Christmas monster are you? Lol But really of course everyone is entitled to their own wrong Opinion. To me Every year I rewatch Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Elf, Christmas Chronicles, Jingle all the way and a few others as these movies are just pure entertainment, you do not have to think to much, some tug at your heart, and they are pretty safe around all the family members, (Unlike says Bad Santa, Of Bad Moms, which are just terrible to watch) It could also be that my Dad was like Clark, he would avoid the in laws and work on the house decorating, and got me into it, where at one time I had 5,000 lights on my house and 30 lawn decorations, so maybe it is just me and I am not seeing it threw the eyes of someone who did not grow up like that.

  2. Ha, Michael, you made me smile. I can see that. I just don’t like making fun of people who seem to be poor or stupid, which a lot of the humor in CV is based on.

    Your house must have been really something to see! My family did the bare minimum in my youth. Now my mom has a lot of time on her hands and gets into it, but not with lights so much as putting unusual and vintage holiday stuff all over the inside of the house. She does a nice job, but there’s no one to appreciate it.

    I get more into weird holidays, like Pi Day, Groundhog Day, Star Wars Day, Captain Picard Day, bc that seems to be how I roll. 😉

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