Drew Latham is a rich record executive that seems to have everything money can buy but what he wants a little holiday cheer and a family to spend it with aren’t normally up for sale. For Drew Christmas hasn’t been the jolly time that he would like or that others seems to enjoy. Facing another Christmas alone after his girlfriend breaks up with him, Drew decides to go back to his idyllic childhood home to spend the holidays with family. There is, however, one problem: the people living there now are not Drew’s family. Nevertheless, Drew has his mind set on an old-fashioned family Christmas, and the fact that the "family" in question, the Valcos, are complete strangers, isn’t about to put a crimp in his plans. Offering them a small fortune, Drew bribes his newfound "parents" to let him spend Christmas in their home, pretending to be part of the family. Just when the Valcos begin to question if any amount of money is worth being dragged all over town on such traditional family holiday excursions as Christmas shopping and the requisite choosing of the Christmas tree, their eldest daughter Alicia comes home for the holidays, with no intention of adopting a new "brother."

Sometimes I just have to wonder what is rolling around in studio execs heads that make them seem like they are on crack. No Christmas holiday movie should ever be released in October or for that matter even early November. While the movie is cute and quite funny, its really hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you are gearing up for Halloween and a time of ghouls and demons, not Christmas trees and yuletide. That is where the movie fails, in timing all the while being quite hilarious and funny. I think someone needs to go to Dreamworks studio and try and explain how important timing is for a movie, scary and Halloween movies don’t belong in May or June either.

If anyone stole the show it was James Gandolfini who just does an amazing job as the gruff dad and is a million miles away from his Tony Soprano character. He is funny and nearly all the best moments and lines of the movie revolve around him. As far as Ben Affleck goes he has clearly sold his soul to Satan and the all mighty dollar rules for him. I could see him doing a movie where he is dressed in a pink tutu and the plot is for him to try and find a blue tutu to wear, if the money was right. But overall the movie was funny and enjoyable, even if with its really bad timing and stupidity on the studios release schedule.
3 stars out of 5