Oh What Fun: A Star-Studded Heartwarming Holiday Movie

Oh. What. Fun. is Prime Video’s newest Christmas comedy from director Michael Showalter and features an all star cast to boot, led by Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, just to name a few. The story follows Claire Clauster (Pfeiffer) who organizes a special and extremely personal Christmas outing/experience every year for her family who, at the same time, consistently forget about her amongst the shuffle and chaos of the holidays. By the time they realize their mistake, Claire has gone missing, making plans of her own and embarking on a cross country road trip. While she set out on a journey of self-rediscovery, her family are left scrambling to track her down before the big day. All in all, Oh. What. Fun. is a delightful and charming Christmas comedy that will undoubtedly make for a perfect viewing experience this upcoming holiday season.

Featuring one of the best ensembles of the year, whether their roles were big or small, everyone was on board and were clearly having a blast here. Giving star Michelle Pfeiffer an all too rare leading role, she is undeniably its heart. Claire is a character that is the easiest to sympathize with, and despite having abandoned her family right before Christmas, audiences will remain on her side over the course of her personal journey. On the other hand, Jones, as Claire’s daughter Channing, and the mother-daughter relationship between she and Claire is one of the film’s highlights, generating most of its emotional moments. Since his debut in 2013’s The Holdovers, Dominic Sessa’s career continues to blossom, and he is another standout as Claire’s grandson Sammy. While Sammy could have come off as annoying in any other actors’ hands, he plays the character so well that he avoids those pitfalls, making him one that audiences can’t help but love.

For fans of Christmas-themed films, especially comedies centered around dysfunctional families, this one should be right up your alley and a nice throwback to those of the early 2000s. Oh. What. Fun. has virtually everything one could ask for from a film like this, offering up a ton of heart, laughs, and a great soundtrack, along with a little romance and a charming cast. But above all else, the film is a love letter to mothers everywhere, and pays respect to the unsung heroes of every family in a sweet and touching fashion. Similarly, it is also hard not to appreciate how much Christmas spirit on display throughout, from the constant Christmas decorations on display, the holiday music, and all the true themes of a proper Christmas film. If anything, the film will help audiences get into the Christmas spirit that much more.

Though not a perfect film by any means, none of its issues threaten to truly take the experience down. There are the givens, including its fairly predictable nature, offering very little in the way of surprises, and will be very familiar in terms of its storytelling. On the other side, with a stacked cast such as this one, it is inevitable that some would be better used than others, and this was once again the case here with the likes of Havana Liu Rose, Maude Apatow, Joan Chen, and Danielle Brooks being the biggest casualties. Finally, the film does end a tad abruptly and the resolution of its story could have handled better by giving audiences a little more after all is set and done.

If you are in the mood for a brand new Christmas comedy fit for the whole family, Oh. What. Fun is a worthy addition to your holiday watchlist. Delivering a sweet, heartfelt, funny, and most importantly, entertaining watch, it will both warm the hearts of audiences and put them in the Christmas spirit. Hopefully the film will serve as a reminder that Michelle Pfeiffer has not lost a beat after all this time, proving herself as a more than capable lead and worthy of more lead roles in the near future.

still courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios 

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/