An underappreciated mother goes on the run in Michael Showalter’s dreadful Oh. What. Fun, now on Amazon Prime.
With the period between words, Oh. What. Fun. is meant to sound staccato and sarcastic, putting a bite on the holiday movie and the joy that comes in the season. It can also be said sarcastically as a review of a movie. Michael Showalter’s holiday film about a woman running away from her family is a joyless, dead-eyed slog that should be so much better with all the talent involved. (For clarity and sanity, I’m not going to use the periods for the remainder of this review.)
In a favorite episode, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, of my favorite show, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike and the ‘bots admonish the riffed film for showing clips of Casablanca: “Never show a good movie inside your crappy one.” (Is there a rule about referencing a better movie inside a review? Is Overdrawn at the Memory Bank better than Oh What. Fun? Mom, am I nuts?) Oh, What Fun breaks that rule over and over again. Not only with a montage of titles, but also with clips of characters watching Christmas movies. It’s fitting as it shamelessly mushes together plot aspects from so many others. Oh, What Fun is bad enough to make me want to give up and watch A Christmas Story instead, anyway.
All this does is make me want to watch those films. … wait. Is that the point? This is an Amazon original. I’m guessing all those movies are on Amazon Prime Video. Is this a subtler way to advertise Amazon to the viewers than the insulting plugs of War of the Worlds? At least they use my nostalgic VHS covers in a montage of our lead lamenting all Christmas movies (along with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, a Thanksgiving movie, thankyouverymuch) follow guys, limiting the moms and wives to smaller, often thankless, parts. 
That “the moms are foils for men’s stories” does seem true and is the point of the movie. Michelle Pfeiffer is an underappreciated mom, who has had enough of her ungrateful clan after they leave her behind when they go to a concert she set up (you might think “oh, Home Alone”, but no), and takes off west to LA to try to appear on a show she’s obsessed with, an inane Ellen-like show led by Eva Longoria. There’s something there, something that could be used. Maybe I set my bar too high in expectations of the cast and crew. I love Michael Showwalter. From The State sketch show, Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, and They Came Together, Showalter often deftly and hilariously explores and understands tropes, mining humor out of building standard film and TV situations to absurd levels. Even The Big Sick used the tropes of a Rom-Com in interesting ways; although that’s helped by being a true story of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s relationship (if you missed that, go seek it out; it’s fantastic). My Name is Doris shows Showalter can be sweet and sad without becoming saccharine and annoying. So where the hell did this come from?
But for someone well versed in tropes and turning and exploiting them, the straightforward unwinking tropeiness of Oh, What Fun is maddening. Showalter and Chander Baker’s script (adapting from her novella) drops the ornament at every chance. It’s one of those that feels like it started with one aim, but got producer-noted to death, a thousand little cuts destroy the package. A turn on the protagonist, highlighting the hypocrisy and hypocrisies around the holidays, all the false faces and forced cheeriness, could be more interesting. It’s worth noting, she’s upset because they fail to give her her due, but she’s just as much not listening to them. This is not explored well.
Instead, it’s just a jumble of refits from better films: Home Alone, Planes, Trains and Automobiles (when she shares a hotel room with Danielle Williams), or even the truly awful Christmas With the Kranks and Deck the Halls. Everything is reheated leftovers. Again, this could work if leaned into, making a show of it. But as it is, it’s worn like an unironic ugly sweater. It doesn’t help that no plot point or scene feels complete, half-done sketches of ideas, or first-draft bullet points. Everything is surface-level, down to the “ripped from PowerPoint” scene transitions. Hallmark would be ashamed.
It’s a waste of a great cast. All seems lost trying to establish character tone and connections from the bland script. It’s a charismatic cast that somehow never convincingly feels connected. Batman Returns’ Michelle Pfeiffer (who I nearly always love) slums through. Weirdly, for a Texas-set movie, she’s the only one who puts on an accent; it’s an odd thing to hear her drawl, and no one else even tries; go all or none. The Ref’s Dennis Leary plays her husband, but he wants to be anywhere else. Great to see The Holdover’s breakout star Dominic Sessa again as the young, underemployed, rudderless son reeling from a breakup; and he’s really solid. Klaus’s Jason Schwartzman tries with a nothing husband for Felicity Jones’s oldest daughter. Jones, um… Rogue One came out around Christmas, tries her best (for a better movie with her from this year, now on streaming, watch Train Dreams), but struggles with a flat character and quashing her British accent. The other sibling, Chloe Grace Moretz (Hugo is kinda-considered a Christmas movie? Let Me In is the snow?), a nearly interesting point is her bringing home a new girl every year. It goes nowhere but to force another sitcom-like misunderstanding moment. Shrug.
Oh, What Fun is a depressing film, sad in an attempt to be a Christmas comedy. It’s a blah flick of forced saccharine; a stale collection of holiday and sitcom tropes with a whole set of folks who I expect better from. Just watch Jingle All the Way instead. Even that’s more entertaining, and it sucks.
PS: As a fan of Dropout TV (and you should be too), it was cool to see Zach Oyama as part of the “perfect family across the street”. Too bad he doesn’t get any lines, just giving a “I’m glad to be here for this easy check” look. Also liked seeing Fucktoy’s awesome supporting actor, Sadie Scott, briefly.