Such a frustrating disappointment

Fantastic!

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

"A Merry Friggin' Christmas" is a bittersweet experience, as it is one of Robin Williams's last films. Williams was a talented comedian and thespian, but tended toward unsympathetic roles late in his career, such as "The Angriest Man in Brooklyn," "World's Greatest Dad" and AMFC. Instead of employing his natural charisma to engage the audience, Williams manages to quickly alienate the viewers. Unfortunately, while Williams eventually becomes slightly more sympathetic, none of the other performers seems particularly sympathetic either. Rather than assembling a cast of quirky but likably eccentric individuals, the filmmakers present a group of weirdos and misfits whose unique personality traits are more offsetting than endearing. Their goals are ill-defined, modest to the point of irrelevance and largely unsympathetic and irrelevant. It is difficult to care about any of the characters or to sympathize with their objectives, with the exception of a couple of minor characters like the wino Santa and the service station owner. Production values are adequate. Performances are okay, but limited by poorly conceived, shallow, one-dimensional, unsympathetic characters. The moral seems lost in the confusion. It seems to have something to do with balancing childhood fantasies with the reality of growing up. In the end, the protagonist either achieves or fails to achieve his objective and the filmmakers seem to approve of the outcome, but the moral comes across as flaccid. There is one character who functions as a sort of mystical agent of change, but his impact is limited by the somewhat feeble ending. The biggest flaw concerns a gift that the protagonist claims he made himself, but his claim seems less than credible. He hasn't demonstrated or displayed any of the skills that would be required, so his claim seems a convenient artifice by the screenwriter.

If you ever had the intense desire to see what Robin Williams would be like if he played a character that channeled Archie Bunker, then you might have your wish granted by the comedy A Merry Friggin' Christmas. Yet, before you run off to see this, it might be kind to inform you that the concept is not quite up to its comedic possibilities. This is a dull, mean-spirited comedy about a family that gets together at Christmas, they fight, they scream, they hate each other, and their basic demeanor is about as warm as a jar full of hornets. Yet, we're supposed to like them.That idea, in other hands, might make for a great comedy. A Merry Friggin' Christmas is about as far from a great comedy as one can get, and is further deadened by the realization that this is one of the last films that Robin Williams worked on before he left us. There are only a finite number of his films left unreleased and it's really heartbreaking to watch him waste his gifts in a performance that has him playing a nasty old crank seated in his favorite chair, chomping on a cigar, sucking back the whiskey and reminding his family for the umpteenth time that HIS name is on the mortgage of this friggin' house! His name is Mitch Mitchler. He's an alcoholic who's been a constant source of disappointment since his kids were in diapers. In flashbacks, Mitch dispels questionable words of wisdom by telling his kids, "The only road to heaven is to realize there's no road to heaven." That's before his lays the hard truth on them about Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy. Did you forget that this was a comedy? By this point in the movie, it's not unreasonable.Actually (or rather mercifully) Robin is not the center of things. Our focus is given over to comedian Joel McHale in a serviceable performance as Mitch's son Boyd, a reasonably good-hearted dad whose goal in life is to spend the rest of his life being Mitch's exact opposite as a father. He has a lovely wife named Luanne and two kids, Vera and Douglas. As Christmas approaches, he makes himself the stated goal that he wants to give his 8 year-old son a Christmas that he will remember for the rest of his life. That's fine until Boyd drives the family 300 miles to his parent's house and realizes at the 11th hour that he's left his son's presents back at the house. That means that he has a very short window in which to drive back to his house, retrieve the presents, and be back home before the kid wakes up.Yes, this is a road movie, and yes that means his disapproving father has to travel with him. Why? Because then we wouldn't have a movie. What follows is not so much a narrative but a long series of wacky episodes involving car chases, slapstick, one-liners and offensive stereotypes. There's a cringe-worthy subplot about illegal Mexicans and Afhanis. There's an unfunny running gag about a drunk Santa Claus played by a usually delightful Oliver Platt. And there's the usual nonsense in which the family screams hateful insults at one another in a manner that, I guess, we're suppose to find funny. Then the movie moves into a third act in which we're suppose to feel for the characters because they give each other warm looks and the soundtrack cues our emotions.You feel bad when this movie is over. You feel bad for the actors. You feel bad for anyone suckered into this movie. You feel bad for being there. Whatever happened to movies in which families like each other? When the warmth of the holidays brought people together with good will and cheer why do we need a movie like this? This is the most wonderful time of the year. So why are we given a movie this friggin' unpleasant?

Spoiler Alert - this is a bad movie and a waste of time to watch. There - I said it,One of Robin William's last movies but you don't want to remember him for this brick. With great talent like Lauren Graham (always lovable), Candice Bergen, and the late great Robin Williams, this movie had so much potential. Great Christmas movies can become classics and no matter what else an actor did, they can be remembered for one memorable holiday movie. Unfortunately, this isn't the case here. It tries to be a "Christmas Vacation" type movie. Dysfunctional family - check. Talented actors - check. Some funny lines - check. A family reunion that fails - check. Good writing - ...... NO check.I really wanted this movie to work and was so excited when I saw it at Red Box. By why had I never heard of it? Turns out it was released this year (2014) and probably went straight to DVD rental - and there is a reason. If you want to remember Robin Williams for his last good movie- go watch "Night at the Museum 3." But please don't remember him for this.

Boyd Mitchler and his family must spend Christmas with his estranged family, and especially his father, who ruined the miracle of Christmas for him when he was a child.Upon realising that he left all his son's gifts at home, he hits the road with his father in an attempt to make the 8-hour round trip before sunrise, so he doesn't ruin the miracle for his son, thus turning him into his Father....Christmas films used to be magical, and about sweet saccharine topics, kids defeating wet bandits, Bill Murray kissing Bobcat Goldthwaite, and Chevy Chase speeding down a hill. But it appears that in the advent of Bad Santa, movie studios feel that they need to put a dark edge on all things Christmas, and here is no exception.It's not saying that its a bad movie, it's pretty enjoyable for the most part, and the message of keeping the Christmas dream alive for the kids is there, it's just that parts of the nuclear family aspect are handled sluggishly, and parts that should make you laugh, make you cringe.Such as the Middle Eastern family staying at the Mitchler residence, and the husband who has been charged for being 'rude' just don't cut this type of film, especially when they try and milk the jokes for all they are worth.So we get the husband playing Scrabble using innuendo, and the family being spoken to in their native tongue abhorrently. Oh how we laugh!!Saying that though, the scenes with Willams and his two sons are truly brilliant, and make the whole film worth watching.After all, this is one of the last films he made.Not a great film, but it does have its moments.