The holiday season’s first lump of coal arrives this week in the form of a Ben Affleck vehicle that is so relentlessly awful, it’s a wonder it survived even main-stream Hollywood’s notoriously lax vetting process. No doubt, Affleck’s semi-intact popular appeal — which is predicated almost solely on his looks and famous girl-friends rather than his acting — saved “Surviving Christmas” from the straight to video fate it most surely deserves, but it’s entirely likely big Ben will come to rue this wreck even more than last year’s notorious flop, “Gigli.” The abject failure of the latter film was as much a product of Ben and J-Lo backlash as it was poor quality. “Saving Christmas,” on the other hand, just flat-out sucks. For three years, DreamWorks resisted releasing it, and with good reason: In theaters, this dud will be lucky to survive the weekend. Affleck and co-star James Gandolfini (who reportedly sulked in his trailer throughout the entire shoot) can only hope their careers don’t suffer a similar fate.
Affleck’s Drew Latham is an annoyingly eccentric millionaire marketing exec who has no friends or family. After his empty-headed girlfriend dumps him on Christmas Eve, Drew — determined not to spend the holiday alone — returns to his childhood home and on a whim, hires the dysfunctional blue-collar clan that lives there to pretend to be his own. They butt heads, but eventually — surprise! — everyone learns the true meaning of Christmas. Affleck’s preternaturally giddy performance is an absolute lock for a Razzie Award, and Gandolfini’s perpetual scowl suggests he’d like to sic Tony Soprano on everyone involved. (Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and a brief drug reference. Running time: 92 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 22, 2004. Read the original PDF.