Like watching a combination plate of a movie, with elements of every Christmas movie you've ever seen thrown in for good measure. First let's start with one of the flimsiest plot devices ever: lifelong-loser Devito (despite having a blonde, busty wife, uh huh) gets the inane idea to put enough xmas lights on his home so it can be seen from space. This will give him the accomplishment of his life, and make him "somebody". Now he has just moved in across the street from squeaky clean Broderick, who happens to me "Mr. Christmas" around the holidays. The two begin a war of wills as to whom the town will adore the most. Devito keeps piling on lights, Broderick tries to sabotage it. Now with that storyline laid out, so, so many things come to mind. A), Devito would never get away with the noise and paralyzing light beams shooting into everyone's bedrooms. B), as a car salesman, Devito forges Broderick's name and sticks him with the payments on a new SUV. Now, only in "movie land" would Devito not be fired and brought up on charges of fraud. C), let's count the rip-offs of other movies, shall we: xmas neighbors feuding (Christmas With the Kranks); unstable man lighting up his house (Christmas Vacation); Broderick banged around and covered in goop (Home Alone); a VERY badly blue-screened runaway Santa sleigh (Christmas Vaction AGAIN!). Tack on maybe "the" most forced, overly syrupy, and utterly rushed endings in film history, Christmas or not, and you have ten hard earned dollars wasted. As the film started it was good to see a couple of former movie heavyweights in a potentially big holiday film...sadly, this adds to the nadir that is still their current careers.
Review of Deck the Halls
