NUTCRACKERS Movie Review | Ben Stiller | David Gordon Green | Hulu

David Gordon Green returns to his indie roots, thank God, with Nutcrackers. But we may not agree on whether this was a successful return for him. But it's a Christmas movie, and it is on Hulu. So of course, we're going to talk about it with you. So come subscribe because this is prime time for Alonzo. Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we are in it, you guys. We are in the holiday movie season, and there is no one you'd rather have be your guide than this fellow right here. Yeah, as if he likes to say on Maximum Film, I'm in my full power. Come quick, the gold coin's running south! Ben Stiller stars as an uptight, hardworking urban jerk. A big stretch for Ben Stiller, obviously. But he finds out after the death of his sister and brother-in-law that he is the sole living relative for his four rambunctious nephews played by a quartet of real-life brothers. He drives out to their farm in Ohio and can't wait to get out of there and is hoping to bob them off on some other family to adopt them. But it's not quite that easy. And of course, the longer he stays, the more he realizes that, you know, maybe he does actually have a family chip inside of him somewhere, and maybe he wants to take care of these kids. This was a film that apparently was inspired by David Gordon Green taking a road trip cross-country and meeting the four sons of a friend of his he hadn't seen in a long time. And these kids are, like, wild and unpredictable, but they're also very talented dancers. And that plays into the plot, as the title suggests. They put on a very unconventional version of the Nutcracker Suite in an attempt to draw in potential adoptive parents. Linda Cardellini is there as their social worker. And thankfully, not the obvious love interest for Ben Stiller, although it's clear they do click a bit as the movie proceeds. But this isn't a Hallmark movie where they kiss in the last 30 seconds. Ben Stiller is kind of a Hallmark heroine, though, right? Because he's the uptight, work-obsessed city guy who learns to, like, chill out a bit and care about his family. A big city guy goes to the small town and learns what real values are, the importance of family. Yes, always. Always family. So yeah, I found this kind of charming. Like, it's a bit ramshackle, but it reminded me of the David Gordon Green that I miss. The David Gordon Green that made, you know, like, George Washington and Prince Avalanche and all the real girls in films like that, who, you know, lately we've kind of lost to David Gordon Green, the guy rebooting all of the 70s horror franchises you love. So I think this is a step in the right direction. It is a little messy. It's a little shaggy, but I think it kind of feels like the kind of movie that would have been created on this farm, if that makes sense. Because the farm, when he first gets there, you think, oh my God, what a horror show, and these kids are unsupervised. What the hell? And then you come to realize it's actually this kind of, there is something kind of cool and bohemian about it, but they have been raised to be very sort of freethinkers and independent. And so it's not as, you know, tidy as Ben Stiller would have liked. And so this movie isn't as tidy maybe as I would have liked, but I was still charmed by it. And I thought it was quite lovely. I like the instincts here. Okay. I like that from the very beginning, you do feel like you are in the hands of this guy who started out some 30 years ago, telling real stories about real people who were a little quirky and idiosyncratic and a little messy, as you say. And so this works best for me in those moments when it's just Ben Stiller hanging out with the kids. And, you know, this thing is production designed, like to the slightest little thing in the corner, like the dust bunnies, it feels like. There's so much stuff. It stressed me out as a Virgo, just like the dishes in the sink. I'm like, somebody please, somebody please. But when it's these kids who are not actors, right? Like they're dancers. And the eldest one in particular is really good on all fronts. But I think when it's just him hanging out with them, it feels like it has kind of an improvised quality. Like you are actually watching them try to learn how to coexist. And when it is wacky, slapsticky sitcom situations, it is so obvious and shrill and straining. And that does not work nearly as well. Like when it tries hard to be funny, it is not funny. But when it's just about them hanging out, there's sort of a nice, I don't know, like a melancholy mix of the legitimate tragedy of the situation these kids are in, with like kind of the absurd humor of the way they live their daily lives. And they're homeschooled. So they're really isolated. There's no reason for them ever to go anywhere, you know? And then when they do go into town, it's kind of a disaster. Like when they do try to incorporate these kids into like the real world and maybe get them adopted out, it goes poorly. I think there are some funny set pieces in that. I think the whole Christmas party at Toby Huss's house, he plays like the local rich guy who they think they might be able to, you know, Ben Stiller is very much working this guy to like maybe, you know, take these kids off his hands. And it just becomes this kind of escalating thing of not just the kids sort of like creating chaos within the party, but eventually it involves like golf carts and pools and nativity scenes. And I thought that actually worked pretty well. They don't all work equally well, but some of them work, you know? And I think there's enough of the sort of, like you say, the smaller eccentric moments with the Jansen brothers playing the Kicklider brothers that I don't know, I just, this felt different and unusual. And maybe I was just so hungry for a David Gordon Green movie that wasn't, you know, desecrating an old horror franchise that I love. So maybe I was a little more generous in that respect. But yeah, I think this is, if you're down for a kind of, it's a shaggy indie that happens to have like Ben Stiller and Linda Cardellini and a few other familiar faces in it. But I think for the most part, it's pretty effective. And it does kind of land the sentimentality plane without getting too gross about it. And that's always a challenge. The thing that happens at the end, I did think was a nice balance and it was unexpected the way that that plays out because you think you know where it's going. Exactly. And it plays out a little bit differently. So yeah, I did like that. And it did give these kids a chance to really shine and show what they are good at. So, and that felt almost weirdly organic, right? Like it's impossible the way it played out, but it almost made sense. Yeah, because I mean, this is a movie that's sort of reverse engineered of like, okay, I have these four amazing kids. What do I do with that? And how do I like, what do I build to and how do I make this movie around them? So I don't know. I found this really appealing and I'm curious to see if these kids have like a future. You know, I think they're very natural on camera. They have, they're funny. So, you know, I'd like to see where it goes for them. One of the running bits is that Ben Stiller can't get the coffee maker to work. It's always like spilling over and it's messy as part of all the crap all over the counters. But if only they had Coffee Brothers Coffee. And they have like espresso machines too at Coffee Brothers. It would all work out for him. He'd be properly caffeinated to deal with whatever ramshackle chaos comes his way every day. You'd have coffee and brothers. Exactly. Oh, perfect. I wish I thought of that. So with Black Friday here and just through the holidays, they have amazing sales going on right now through December 2nd. If you purchase at least $100 worth of Coffee Brothers Coffee, it is 25% off. Up to $100, it is 20% off. And $50 and below, it is 15% off. And then with our code BREAKFAST15, all year round, you get 15% off your orders. The Holiday Blend is here. Gift boxes are here for this time of year. So stock up on this stuff now while you can, while they have it in stock. We love our folks at Coffee Brothers. BREAKFAST15, link below. The Holiday Blend, it's so good. And it's now or never. So yeah, don't sleep on that. They're gonna run out. It'll happen. It won't be there forever. So jump on that. What is your number then on Nutcrackers? Like a 7.7. I think this is, like I said, it's a little all over the place, but I think that kind of plays into how it is. Like this is a movie that if it were too slick and too structured, I think it would be pulling against the very nature of the characters and the way that they kind of come to understand each other. So I didn't mind it being a little frayed at the edges. I'm gonna say like a 5.2 because it is too uneven for my liking, but I love the instinct here. And I hope that David Gordon Green stays in this indie realm for a while because it's really where his filmmaking and storytelling strengths lie.