NUTCRACKERS - Mark Reviews Movies

Nutcrackers, Hulu

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | November 29, 2024

The only unpredictable thing about Nutcrackers is in how haphazardly its story unfolds. We pretty much know what's going to happen from the start, and as soon as the jolts of Leland Douglas' screenplay adding new goals to the plot subside, it's pretty easy to determine how all of those will turn out, too.

The basic setup revolves around Michael (Ben Stiller), not "Mike" (although even how he gradually comes to accept that shortened version of his name is a foregone conclusion here), who has to leave his Chicago home and job for a long weekend to handle a family emergency in rural Ohio. His sister and her husband died, leaving their four sons orphaned, and after a month or so of family friend tending to the kids and the farm where they live, it's Michael's turn to watch them for a bit. In theory, it'll only be until family services places the kids in a foster home, which Michael assumes will be by the start of the following week.

Some important and, of course, predictable things to know about Michael include that he's a workaholic, that he's single and doesn't have much interest in having a family of his own, and that he a major work project hanging over his head, which this sudden trip out to the country is putting in jeopardy. This is the last place he wants to be at the moment. The four boys are the last issue with which he wants to deal, and Gretchen (Linda Cardellini), the family services agent on the kids case, telling him that she's having a difficult time finding a home for all four of the siblings is the last thing Michael wants to hear right now.

Will he have a change of heart about all of these things? Would it help to mention that Christmas is approaching, or does that little detail only confirm that any questions about the course of this story are entirely rhetorical?

A few things to note about the kids, by the way, are that they're rambunctious, independently minded, sneaky, and prone to causing a lot of trouble. They're classic problem children, but is all of that just hiding how much they're hurting and want to be part of a real family again? Sorry, the unnecessary questions are supposed to be finished, but like the formula of Douglas' script, some habits are difficult to break.

The gist of both the plot and the comedy is that the kids—Justice (Homer Janson), Junior (Ulysses Janson), and twins Simon (Arlo Janson) and Samuel (Atlas Janson), all of them played by real-life siblings—cause a lot of trouble. They resent Michael for being there and more so for being so distracted by his job that it's clear he wants little or nothing to do with his nephews. They torment him, basically, by tricking him into floating to the middle of a river to look for cellphone reception and by taking the key to his super-expensive sports car to do some tricks in it. It's all relatively innocent, of course, and as Gretchen keeps hitting obstacles to place the children with another family, Michael realizes he'll have to consider putting them in a group home if he wants to return to his life anytime soon.

Some of this is admittedly amusing, because the kids are so energetic and occasionally imaginative in their torture of their uncle, while Stiller is a good sport playing off his young co-stars and trying to play Michael as if his character's arc isn't a matter of predestination from the beginning. Pushed by his frustration and his approaching deadline at work, the uncle eventually comes up with a plan to find a foster family himself, first trying to manipulate a wealthy local (played by Toby Huss). For the plan to work, the kids will have to be on their best behavior at a fancy holiday party at the man's mansion. How do you think that turns out, especially when the kids spot a golf cart they really want to drive?

The gags, in other words, are as obvious as the story, the characters, and their inevitable turns, and it doesn't help that director David Gordon Green treats the material with such sincerity and such a relaxed approach that the comedy and plotting never escalate or feel entirely cohesive. Michael's switch to essentially scheming to push the kids on someone else almost seems as if it comes out of nowhere, as does a final story thread in which the kids decide to put on a show for the town.

The whole of Nutcrackers comes across as if it's coasting on the obvious elements of its narrative, and yes, there's some comfort in the straightforward setup, shenanigans, and sweetness of this tale, mainly because the cast is game at playing it. If anything, the movie is too comfortable with itself and in what it's doing, so it's little surprise that there's no, well, surprise to it.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products