REVIEW: Brilliant Chemistry And Christmas Cheer Carry ‘Oh. What. Fun.’ Over The Finish Line
- James Crooks
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Christmas time often maintains the illusion of the perfect a holiday; great food, reuniting with family, celebration, and best of all, presents. Every year a palpable anticipation builds around late September, as supermarkets start stocking seasonal varieties of their usual goods, spawning the usual “but it’s not even Halloween yet!” comments from nearby shoppers. Eventually, this chaotic madness spreads like a plague, each victim coming down with a head-bobbing inducing fever as Mariah Carey inevitably returns to the charts and households are driven to their wits' end with music repeats and stress.
Oh. What. Fun. harnesses this anarchy with a terrifying realism. Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the core of her orderless family, with children at wildly different stages of life, some even having their own kids, she manages to reunite the family tree over the holiday period. Her loving contributions are endless, from perfected baked goods to beautifully wrapped presents and an overly competitive feud with the neighbour across the road, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without Claire and her non-stop festivities. With many mothers guaranteed to relate, Claire feels underappreciated and forgotten, a feeling that becomes reality when her family leave her behind on a special outing she organised. Taking this in her stride, Claire embarks on an adventure to rekindle her spark and discover the wonders of an unplanned Christmas alone.
Beginning with a slower tempo (the calm before the storm), Oh. What. Fun. allows audiences to gel with family-feuds and relationships before the drama occurs. Perhaps this elongated build up is unconventional in a Christmas flick, of which are usually snappy and carry an energetic bounce, but this ultimately lends a hand to the narrative that otherwise struggles. The foundation of success within Amazon MGM Studio’s latest release stems from these dynamics, in the duller moments audiences will remain intrigued thanks to the delightful comedy sewn throughout, even if they are unable to cover up the flaws of a muddled script. Due to a relaxed opening, the later minutes carry a cumbersome challenge occuring at a heart attack inducing pace, unable to wrap individual sub-plots in ways that feel unique and deserving for each character, resulting in a somewhat generic and unearned conclusion.
Accompanying the legendary Michelle Pfieffer (Batman Returns) within the film is her on-screen children; Sammy (Dominic Sessa), Channing (Felicity Jones) and Taylor (Chloë Grace Mortez), as well as recognizable stars within Jason Schwartzman (Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse), Eva Longoria (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Denis Leary (Ice Age). Together the cast blend together seamlessly, portraying a belligerently bickering cohort of relatives that deliver an outstandingly accurate depiction of a panicked, stressed and hungry family over this festive period. Unexpectedly, Pfieffer (Scarface) furnishes the film with a stunning performance as an overworked mother, yet Dominic Sessa brings an equally brilliant and much welcome witty charm and zing to the picture. One similar to that of his role as schoolboy Angus Tully in 2024’s Academy Award nominated The Holdovers.
Frustratingly, as Oh. What. Fun. progresses it becomes evidently clear that the Christmas excitement relies heavily on the cast’s delectable chemistry and unearned relatability for achievement, as the actual narrative of adventure and deeper discovery of purpose becomes entirely lost around the halfway mark. Clocking in with a runtime of 1 hour 46 minutes, Oh. What. Fun. possesses enough opportunity for further exploration of Michelle Pfieffer’s Claire outside the familial setting, yet this never occurs. Instead, a hasty storyline involving her connection to a beloved talk show replaces any potential. As this gains traction, audiences may find themselves relying more on the secondary events and people Claire meets for entertainment, rather than the film’s main plot. Instead, the scriptwriters focus on not straying too far from obvious source inspiration within Christmas classics, such as Home Alone (1990), attempting, and failing, to replicate their magic.
Overall, Oh. What. Fun. carries enough charisma and laughs to cross the finish line and deliver a fun entry to the library of modern Christmas entertainment. Unfortunately, however, rather than removing training wheels as the plot progresses, it adds even more stabilizers, afraid of offering a final product too unconventional, stinking of ‘streaming safety’ - the concept of avoiding anything ambitious and thus falling into genericity. This isn't helped by bland cinematography and colour grading equivalent to a Hallmark movie. Thankfully, the first half establishes likeable enough characters and relationships that carry the picture through, even if it never gives illustrious stars, such as Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), enough meat in their writing to match the incredible talent they possess.
About Oh. What. Fun.
Premiere Date: December 3, 2025
Writer: Chandler Baker & Michael Showalter
Director: Chandler Baker & Michael Showalter
Production: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,Semi Formal Productions, TriBeCa Productions
Distribution: Amazon MGM Studios
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Dominic Sessa, Danielle Brooks, Devery Jacobs, Havana Rose Liu, Maude Apatow, with Jason Schwartzman with Eva Longoria and Joan Chen.
