THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511030047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
LITTLE THINGS mean a lot in Jodie Foster's film about a Thanksgiving from hell. ``Home for the Holidays'' might sound like a movie full of turkey stuffing and good cheer. Actually, in the holiday dinner scene, a frantic son (trying to carve) spins the turkey through the air and lands it on the lap of his stuffy sister.
If that sounds like broad slapstick, it is not the norm for ``Home for the Holidays.'' Foster, marking her second film as a director, is clearly going for laughs here, but she also wants to keep things sane and even intelligent. She has whipped an amazing ensemble cast into individuals who each represent a recognizable ``type,'' but none of whom quite become stereotypes. There isn't a weak performance on screen.
Holly Hunter plays the single mom who dreads the annual trek back to Baltimore for Thanksgiving. To top it off, she has one of the worst days of her life. She's fired from her job at a Chicago museum. Her 15-year-old daughter (Claire Danes from TV's ``My So-Called Life'') announces that she plans to lose her virginity while Mom is away. In the airport, every phone booth is filled with her type - women going home to be treated like children again.
Hunter is softer than usual, but still a bit intense for the part. It is never quite clear why she feels so above her family. She and Danes make an unlikely mom and daughter.
Hunter frantically phones her wild brother, played by Robert Downey Jr., to urge him to make the trek from Boston so she won't feel so alone. He brings along a handsome stranger (Dylan McDermott). Downey's character, keeping the secret from Mom and Dad, has established a gay lifestyle in Boston. No one is sure, though, because he's the one in the family who likes to do things that shock others - just for the fun of it.
Anne Bancroft plays the busybody Mom - always making lists and clipping coupons. Charles Durning is the eccentric father who washes the neighbor's cars, even in winter. Only Geraldine Chaplin, as the senile aunt, seems badly miscast. She tells silly stories at the oddest times, but Chaplin doesn't seem quite the dippy type.
Cynthia Stevenson (from TV's ``Hope & Gloria'') almost steals the movie as the bitter daughter who stayed at home to take care of her parents - and feels she got no credit for it. Her banker husband, a guy who worships only cash, is well cast in the person of Steve Guttenberg.
McDermott (Clint Eastwood's partner in ``In the Line of Fire'') makes quite a winsome romantic leading man to Hunter's rather pale reactions.
For once, the usual comedy shenanigans don't sink to the level of slapstick. Foster keeps a tight rein on her cast, but also lets them play.
Not much happens, but it's all very funny. I laughed out loud. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Home for the Holidays''
Cast: Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles
Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Cynthia Stevenson, Steve
Guttenberg, Claire Danes, Austin Pendelton, David Strathairn
Director: Jodie Foster
Screenplay: W.R. Richter
Music: Mark Isham
MPAA rating: PG-13 (some language)
Mal's rating: 3 1/2 stars
Locations: Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf in Norfolk; Lynnhaven
Mall, Pembroke in Virginia Beach. by CNB