There are two kinds of Christmas movies. First, the comedies, which seek to put a farcical spin on family togetherness, and second, the schmaltzy, Hallmark-style kind that cover everything onscreen and in the script in a sheen of fake snow and glittery glee. Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is something else altogether, blending comedic elements and lingering shots of heaping piles of holiday M&Ms with the true emotional mania of a big family celebration.
Directed and cowritten by Tyler Taormina, the film has a speaking cast of seemingly dozens, including producer Michael Cera, Gregg Turkington, and two famous Hollywood descendants: Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg. Set sometime in the mid 2000s, the film flits through scenes in what seems to be an Italian American family’s last holiday in their declining matriarch’s New York home.
The film doesn’t have a plot so much as it has emotional touchpoints—a mother-daughter struggle, a grown set of siblings talking about putting someone in assisted living, and notes of teenage rebellion and absurdity—but what it lacks in story it makes up for in poignancy. There are genuine moments of pathos and humor to be found within its 106-minute runtime, though they do seem to get a little more scarce in the movie’s latter half. Cera’s presence is novel amidst a cast of mostly no-names, but his actual role (as a worn-down cop who may or may not be in love with his partner) is more tossed-off nonsense than it is essential, and there are whole notes of the film that could definitely have been left on the cutting room floor. Overall, though, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point is an interesting and well-made watch, albeit one that may cause anyone with an aversion to nit-picking family drama a little more agita than it might ultimately be worth. PG-13, 106 min.
Wide release in theaters
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