Home for the Holidays (1995)
75%RT Audience Score: 72%
Awards & Nominations: 2 nominations
Much like a real-life visit Home for the Holidays, this Thanksgiving-set dramedy can get a little bumpy — but it also has its share of fondly memorable moments
Home for the Holidays is the perfect movie to watch with your family during the holidays, especially if you want to feel better about your own dysfunctional family. Holly Hunter is amazing as the single mom who has to deal with her crazy relatives, including a wacky gay brother played by Robert Downey Jr. The movie is funny, heartwarming, and relatable, and it will make you appreciate your own family, no matter how crazy they are. Plus, it’s directed by Jodie Foster, who knows a thing or two about dysfunctional families. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!
Production Company(ies)
Universal Pictures, Wing Nut Films, Big Primate Pictures,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Baltimore Museum of Art – 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, language and brief drug use
Year of Release
1995
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:NA
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Sep 4, 2001
Genre(s)
Holiday/Comedy
Keyword(s)
starring Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Cynthia Stevenson, Steve Guttenberg, directed by Jodie Foster, written by Chris Radant, W.D Richter, holiday, comedy, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Anne Billson, Owen Gleiberman, Emanuel Levy, Janet Maslin, Mick LaSalle, Peter Travers, PG-13, produced by Jodie Foster, Peggy Rajski, dysfunctional family, Thanksgiving, single mother, childhood home, explosive holiday dinner, nutty parents, loony aunt, wacky gay brother, boring sister, sparks fly, handsome friend, Leo Fish
Worldwide gross: $17,519,169
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $34,448,991
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,502
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 3,756,706
US/Canada gross: $17,519,169
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $34,448,991
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,225
US/Canada opening weekend: $4,007,717
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $7,880,614
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,022
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $20,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $39,327,197
Production budget ranking: 973
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $21,177,696
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$26,055,902
ROI to date (est.): -43%
ROI ranking: 1,642
Robert Downey Jr. – Tommy Larson
Anne Bancroft – Adele Larson
Charles Durning – Henry Larson
Dylan McDermott – Leo Fish
Geraldine Chaplin – Aunt Gladys, ‘Glady’
Director – Jodie Foster
Producers – Jodie Foster, Peggy Rajski
Writers – Chris Radant, W.D. Richter
Director(s)
Jodie Foster
Writer(s)
Chris Radant, W.D. Richter
Producer(s)
Jodie Foster, Peggy Rajski
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (18)
Single mom Holly Hunter is fired from her job at a Chicago museum on the very day she is due to fly back to Baltimore to cope with nutty parents, loony aunt, wacky gay brother and boring sister. That’s it — that’s the plot. Read it and weep.
November 27, 2017
Anne Billson
Daily Telegraph (UK)
TOP CRITIC
September 7, 2011 | Rating: C-
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
Foster’s second directorial effort is a vividly drawn if too episodic portrait of an eccentric family, well acted by the entire cast, especially Holly Hunter and Robery Downey Jr.
October 18, 2008 | Rating: B
Emanuel Levy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Spirited but uneven.
May 20, 2003 | Rating: 2.5/5
Janet Maslin
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
Neither caustic nor sentimental, it’s a film that maybe half the people on Earth have at one time considered writing.
June 18, 2002 | Rating: 4/4
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Foster keeps the party hopping, although more dark humor would have helped before she winds it down with sentiment and bromides.
May 12, 2001
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
Celebrates the family unit without ever getting sanctimonious about its merits.
September 22, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
The Larsons aren’t [a] fake sort of sitcom-y zany … They’re the mix of pent-up emotions, unspoken admiration, lifelong grudges, and unconditional love that’s reflected in the grand majority of real, American families.
October 18, 2017
Austin Trunick
Under the Radar
Home for the Holidays is a perfect representation of why they say you can’t go home again.
September 26, 2017
Emily Sears
Birth.Movies.Death.
Funny, adult look at a dysfunctional holiday.
December 18, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Heather Boerner
Common Sense Media
Has a spirit and an ostensible shapelessness that are pure Cassavetes, enveloping a script that only seems to reach for the precise calculations of 1930s screwball comedy.
October 2, 2006 | Rating: A-
Nick Davis
Nick’s Flick Picks
A wonderful, big-hearted, messy Thanksgiving story.
May 26, 2006
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid…
Plot
After losing her job, making out with her soon to be ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending the holiday with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of Home for the Holidays includes Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, and Geraldine Chaplin.
Jodie-Foster.jpg
