Holiday Reunion (2003)

Pretty Good

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Well, this film is just too funny.The bathroom scene is just funny as hell.Me being a scriptwriter/actor, I'll take a thing or two from this film, for sure. Since, I'm writing a romantic comedy. Actors are great and funny as well.National Lampoon out did themselves with this one.Great job!Also like the girl to girl cat fight scene.It had some similiraties of a that other film called vacation, but this one is a lot more funnier, then that one.This film just has a little bit of all the different flavors of humor, that I enjoy, from Stir Crazy to Cheech And Chong's Still Smokin. Also the various contrasts of characters that help keep the audience viewer waiting for the next humorous big event, just makes you want to watch this gem to the very end.If only all comedy films could learn from this one.

National Lampoon's Holiday Reunion is about two cousins in a rather dysfunctional family who do not even remember each other. Since neither cousin has any extended family, they decided to reunite and have Thanksgiving together. Of course, the "normal" family is appalled when they meet their redneck cousins. Sound familiar? Maybe because it is the same plot from National Lampoon's Vacation, only a lot less funny.Judge Reinhold stars as Dr. Mitch Snider, an anesthesiologist for the stars in California. Bryan Cranston co-stars as Woodrow Snider, the redneck cousin with a big heart but down on his luck. Cousin Eddie.. I mean Cousin Woodrow is also in between a rock and a hard place financially and wants to ask his cousin, Mitch, for $60,000, but for some reason, asks for a kidney instead. I suppose to make Mitch feel sorry for him.I do not even really have to go into the rest, because if you have seen the other National Lampoon movies up to this point, you know what will happen. Even the formula for Holiday Reunion is the same as Holdiay Vacation. Both families consist of the husband and wife, daughter and son, and of course, the token old guy.I really hope National Lampoon's gets it's act together because they used to be a great franchise, but lately, I have seen nothing but unoriginality and poor writing, especially for the comedy we have come to expect from them. 3/10

I feel that this movie is terrible. None of the parts were funny at all to me. Also, if the movie was set in Idaho, then why there is no snow and why the people are wearing summer clothes? People in Idaho do not wear that stuff during Thanksgiving. Since this movie was filmed in Canada, I feel that the movie should have been filmed in January, instead of warm weather season, or they could have change the location of the movie, where people wear summer stuff during Thanksgiving (like Tennessee or Mississippi or Alabama or Texas (to be filmed in Canada, if that's the case)). Also, I feel that the movie should have been made ten years ago with Chevy Chase. I think that it would have been a good movie with Chevy in there. Grade: F

Tasteless and embarrassing.Tasteless exposure of nearly every embarrassing thing you never want the world to know about your family - plus a few more things that make watching this movie quite uncomfortable.Judge Reinhold's characteristic awkward, uncomfortable performance could have been used to gain the sympathy of the viewer. Instead it became simply boring. But I don't blame him. The overall lack of comedic timing in this movie indicates serious problems throughout production. The movie had plenty of clever gag ideas as well as some bad ones. Many of the situations touched on were ones that the average person could relate to. The problem was in the amateurish implementation, nearly every - step - of - the - way. Each of the actors and actresses had good moments: good facial expressions and reactions. But, at the end of each scene, one shouldn't be left wondering "what was that all about?". The gags were thrown out there, but the scenes weren't polished: the bedroom-sharing scene ended on a very lame note. The nude shower scene was obviously intended as a gross-out piece, but that's all it was - disgusting, not funny. Even a mud-wrestling scene provides no satisfaction for the male audience. What was the point of including it, then?"Since this project is categorized as being in production", I hope that the producers will take the time to reconnect the dots and polish up the scenes. There is potential, here, for a good movie.Apart from that, one thing the movie managed to do quite well was to totally denigrate the profession of anesthesiology. Now, I'm not a big fan of doctors, but the absolute insult to this medical specialty was sad and unnecessary. I feel truly sorry for them, now.The best line in the movie is one that sums up the entirety of the experience: "Nothing here makes any sense"