TIFF 2024: Nutcrackers Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The holiday dramedy is a genre that most audiences should be familiar with as many have flocked to them over the holidays over the course of their lives, be it on their own or with their families. Those moments make memories that could often last a lifetime. Time and time again, turing to much of the same story and emotional beats to pull audiences in, they are still somewhat effective after all this time and perhaps some are more susceptible to them because it is the holidays. Either way, watching these beats done to death in countless times in countless films, it’s easy to become numb to them. Ultimately, the fate of Nutcrackers rests on whether or not it can make audiences feel those same feelings once again. To its credit, it does a decent job at generating some emotion. While a cute watch, it is also a familiar one but in spite of that familiar nature, it remains compelling. A big part of that is Ben Stiller, in his first leading role since 2017’s Brad’s Status. Not missing a beat, his effortless charm and comedic timing work wonders here in a film that would have been nowhere as successful as it was if not for him. Meanwhile, the feature debut of brothers Homer, Ulysses, Atlas, and Arlo Janson, they are scene-stealing delights.

In essence, Nutcrackers is a fish-out-of-water dramedy centered around Michael (Stiller), a Chicago real estate developer so consumed in his work that he never had time for his own family, let alone any relationship. However, he would soon have to change his tune as a fatal car accident involving his sister and her husband left him in charge of their house, farm, and four young boys still grieving the death of their parents. Driving his inappropriately expensive sports car to her sister’s rural Ohio small town, it immediately became clear that Michael was out of his depth. Reinforcing that fact through the adversarial relationship between he and his sister’s children, the back-and-forth between them played out in a predictable way though it did feature some fun moments. Thinking that he needed to simply sign some papers and move on, the situation proved to be much more complicated than that therefore Michael had to hang in there longer until family services found the boys new foster parents. Over time, the distance between Michael and the boys narrowed as they found a cause to rally around. Nevertheless, with one foot in and one foot out, he had to learn not to look past but rather to embrace what was in front of them.

Sure, it may be contrived and it may be predictable at times, but Nutcrackers has enough of a charm to it to get by. It has plenty of heartwarming moments to grab audiences even though very little that happens here should come as much of a surprise. While it is not the most challenging film, it executes at a decent level. In the end, the best part of the film is Stiller’s aforementioned performance as Michael. His sheer presence alone brings it up a few levels while solid supporting performances from Cardellini, Edi Patterson, and Toby Huss round it out nicely.

Nutcrackers is a cute holiday dramedy that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but delivers a decent watch with a heart to it that will make audiences feel good.

 still courtesy of TIFF

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.