Claire works very hard to make sure Christmas is special for her family. But they don’t appreciate her, and the frazzled matriarch eventually leaves them to fend for themselves. Despite a nice message about the value of mothers, this film buries its good tidings under a messy plot, unlikeable characters and heap of content coal including profanity, drug and alcohol use, suggestive content and same-sex relationships.
Claire Clauster has been planning this year’s family Christmas for nearly a year, and the time has finally arrived.
The house is decorated, and the tree is lit. Presents have been purchased, and the yuletide meal has been prepared. The kids (and grandkids) are all settled in. Claire made it all happen, running herself ragged in the hope that her family will have a wonderful Christmas together.
And what does Claire ask in return? Not much. A little gratitude would be nice. Better yet, an offer to help every now and then. Oh, and also, to be nominated as the year’s best “Holiday Mom,” a contest put on by her favorite daytime talk show host, Zazzy Tims. (She can’t nominate herself, of course, so hopefully her husband or one of her children will get the hint from Claire’s many pointed reminders …)
In short, all Claire wants for Christmas is a little recognition.
Her house may look seasonally spectacular. But Claire is feeling her own holiday spirit deflate like one of the decorations on the front lawn.
Claire gives and gives. And her family takes and takes, without so much as a “thank you.” If she were to just up and leave, then they’d realize how much they need her.
Maybe she’ll do just that.
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Oh. What. Fun. puts forth a positive message about moms being the “heroes of the holidays” for all the—at times, unacknowledged—work they do to make things special for their families. Claire is one such mother, working hard to give her children and grandchildren a “perfect” Christmas.
While Claire’s family are largely oblivious to the matriarch’s herculean efforts (not to mention her fraying mental state), they do eventually own up to their selfishness and complacency to give Claire the acknowledgement and support she deserves. And we also get a hint that this is a lasting change, rather than a one-time blip of better behavior.
A husband and wife support each other. A man makes a genuine effort to connect with his sister-in-law.
Characters frequently use the word “blessings” as an insincere farewell. A woman claims she does meditation and “sun salutations” in the morning.
Throughout the film, we see clips of famous Christmas movies and specials playing on TV. One such film is 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, specifically, the scene where Linus agrees to tell Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about. The film cuts away before Linus can speak to the true meaning of Christmas, which felt a little odd since the movie picked that scene to show in the first place.
We hear renditions of Christmas carols such as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” and “Silent Night.”
A few romantic storylines run through Oh. What. Fun.
All of Claire’s children are grown. Taylor, Claire’s middle child, is gay and described as a “love addict.” A running joke revolves around her bringing a new girlfriend home every year for Christmas. Taylor and her current girlfriend, Donna, share a kiss. Later, it seems that Taylor might be cheating on Donna. (She isn’t.)
Claire’s youngest, Sammy, is dumped by his girlfriend. When he expresses confusion because they had recently been intimate (he puts it more bluntly than that), his girlfriend replies, “We’re young. That’s what we do.” Sammy declares his love for the woman, but to no avail. Later, he reconnects with another woman who he grew up with. They hit it off, and we’re left wondering for a time if they slept together. (They didn’t but decide to pursue a relationship.)
Channing, Claire’s oldest child, is a parent herself, and she worries that a Christmas dance show that the family is attending won’t be suitable for her young kids. We see a bit of the show later and it turns out she’s right: The dancers in the show (both men and women) move suggestively and wear revealing clothing.
In an awkward effort to connect with Taylor, Channing’s husband, Doug, tells her he “kissed a guy in high school once.” Someone makes an ill-fated marriage proposal. Claire’s husband, Nick, reminisces about the first time he met his wife.
A few women wear revealing clothing.
Claire falls out of her car while it’s being towed, her painful landing played for laughs. Claire scolds a struggling mother’s children, telling them they should behave better because “someday your mom will be dead.”
One f-word is heard, with another use being interrupted just in time. There is one use of the s-word. God’s name is misused nearly 30 times.
Additionally, we hear uses of “d—,” “a–,” “h—,” “b—ch” and “cr-p.” Milder crudities include “heck,” “geez,” “butt” and “screw this.” There are a few crude references to male and female anatomy. Characters joke about a clothing accessory called a “dickey.”
In one scene, a group of women drink to excess and smoke marijuana. One woman wakes up the following morning, disheveled from her drinking binge.
A woman compares her family to “coked-up howler monkeys.”
People drink throughout the film. Two people meet in a bar and drink shots of alcohol. We are told that one of them was sick later. A family toasts with wine. Someone smokes a cigarette. There is mention made of a woman taking hormones.
The members of Claire’s family are often rude or dismissive to one another. They take Claire for granted and, eventually, forget her entirely while going to a show—the final straw for the frazzled matriarch. (To their credit, they go back to find her once they realize she was left behind.) She drives off, ignoring their calls and texts.
Characters air their grievances with one another, in less-than-constructive fashion. In a moment of frustration, Nick says that his kids can’t do anything right and that he should have left with Claire (though he’s just as guilty of taking his wife for granted as his kids are).
Channing feels that her mother doesn’t support her and instead favors her two younger siblings.
To get a leg up on her competition with a rival neighbor, Claire steals a candle from the mall, running from security and driving dangerously to avoid being apprehended. Later, she sneaks past security to get on a talk show.
Zazzy Tims talks about having a vaginoplasty. She also removes the shapewear from under her dress following a show. (The scene is not meant to titillate.)
There is a reference to the movie Brokeback Mountain. Someone talks about needing “to pee.”
Oh. What. Fun. aims to be a zany holiday comedy in the vein of Jingle All the Way or Christmas with the Kranks. And much like those films, Oh. What. Fun. struggles to give us many (if any) likeable characters.
Claire’s family is uniformly self-absorbed, their members running the gamut from thoughtless to acidic to pathetic. And, though Claire works very hard for her family and we root for her to receive the recognition she deserves, she is not immune from criticism, either. She’s not very supportive of her eldest child. She goes to great—and sometimes criminal—lengths to one-up her neighborhood rival. And, of course, she quite literally abandons her family (over something that felt more like a simple mix up than an intentional act of contempt), and we’re not sure if she plans to return.
Ultimately, Oh. What. Fun. is a Christmas movie without much Christmas spirit.
At its core, Oh. What. Fun. has a nice message: that moms are important and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Moreover, it encourages us to actively appreciate our moms.
But if this film were a Christmas stocking, that nice little nugget would be buried beneath quite a few lumps of coal—including some harsh profanity, drug and alcohol use, suggestive dialogue and same-sex relationships.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
