Theholidaysare a time for love and laughter, but as many people know, they are also a time for dysfunctional families to get together and drive one another up a wall. It isn’t that the end of the year brings out the crazy in people — or maybe it does, as people are under pressure from gift-giving and meeting expectations — but rather it’s getting everyone together for a wonderful celebration, as all the scandals and ill feelings towards one another are supposed to be kept private. In films, as well as reality, this never actually works out.
Holiday movies utilize this"dysfunctional family" tropebecause it makes the comedic aspect a little more vibrant, and the characters become more relatable. Between the older relatives that cannot seem to keep their opinions to themselves, the parents who are either overprotective or very nosy, and the siblings who are always in competition with one another no matter their age, there is something for everyone to enjoy in these films.
Here are 10 holiday movies with the most dysfunctional families you’ve ever seen.
Critical and overbearing mothers are taken to a whole new level inA Bad Moms Christmas, when Amy (Mila Kunis), Carla (Kathryn Hahn), and Kiki’s (Kristen Bell) mothers unexpectedly show up for the holidays. The three women must band together and set boundaries with their moms, but as many know, this is easier said than done.
How the Family Is Dysfunctional
Amy’s mother hides her insecurities by being overly critical and always trying to outdo her own daughter. Carla’s mother only shows up when she needs money or a place to crash, and, unfortunately for Carla, she needs both this holiday season. As for Kiki, her mother is lonely, so she overcompensates and throws herself into her daughter’s life and marriage to feel needed. Chaos naturally ensues, and when boundaries are set, heart-to-hearts are had, and people are forgiven.Stream on Fubo
9Holiday in Handcuffs (2007)
Melissa Joan Hart and Mario Lopez star in thisholiday romantic comedyas Trudie and David, a fake couple that is pretending to be together for the sake of appearances. Trudie, not wanting to spend yet another Christmas judged by her family for being single, kidnaps a customer (David) at her job and holds him at gunpoint until he agrees to attend her family’s get-together.
Trudie is unhinged for kidnapping a man and forcing him to pretend to be her boyfriend for the holidays, but once audiences see her family, they understand her need to be perfect. Her mother is critical of everyone, and her father’s expectations of his children are far from their own desires. Trudie’s siblings both announce they haven’t been exactly honest about things as well.Stream on Hulu
8Love the Coopers (2015)
Nothing says “dysfunctional family” quite like one that puts on smiling faces while hiding big and devastating news. In an attempt to have one more perfect Christmas inLove the Coopers, Charlotte (Diane Keaton) has made her husband agree to not tell anyone in the family that they are getting divorced after 40 years of marriage. Nothing can go wrong with this plan, right?
While Charlotte and Sam (John Goodman) hide their little secret, their adult children have things of their own they don’t want anyone to know about. Hank is recently divorced, so, like Charlotte and Sam, he is putting on a show for his own children. Eleanor, Hank’s sister, brings a soldier to her parents' house to pose as her boyfriend for the holiday. As the lies begin to pile up, everyone becomes a bit more anxious.Stream on Fubo
7Home Alone (1990)
InHome Alone, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) thought he was the luckiest kid the morning he awoke to silence rather than his 11 cousins running around the house and screaming along with his aunts, uncles, and parents. However, when fans look back at the chaos that took place the night before the family’s big trip to Paris, it’s obvious that Kevin is the most level-headed amonga rather dysfunctional group.
Kevin’s parents, Peter and Kate, constantly have to wrangle their five children to get anything done. Kevin’s siblings are hateful towards him, his cousins are wild, and his aunts and uncles are so self-absorbed or simply tired of their own children that they do nothing to stop the madness. The McCallister household is certainly not one anyone is volunteering to babysit anytime soon.Stream on Disney+
Related:Home Alone: 10 Reasons the Original Movie is the Best in the Series
6Four Christmases (2008)
Having to see multiple families during the holidays is not uncommon, as plenty of couples come from divorced households and have to appease everyone. When Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) find themselves stuck in town for the holidays inFour Christmases, they quickly remember why they have avoided taking one another home to meet their families.
Brad’s brothers have no shame in treating him the way they did back when they were all kids. They toss him around, wrestle him to the ground, and even get their own children involved. Kate’s family, on the other hand, enjoys spilling all of her childhood secrets and fears. Both Kate and Brad desperately want to use their “let’s leave” code-word while with their own dysfunctional families, but in the end, they realize they’ll take crazy and embarrassing over perfect any day.Stream on Max and Hulu
5Almost Christmas (2016)
Walter Meyers (Danny Glover) knew his home would become a madhouse when he invitedhis four adult childrenand their families to stay over for the holidays inAlmost Christmas. However, he never imagined shotguns would be pulled, and everyone would end up spending Christmas Day at the hospital.
Tensions run high with the siblings in the Meyers family around the holidays, and the fact that their mother is no longer alive to put everyone in their places makes matters worse. Between the mistress of a secret affair coming to dinner, a campaign manager taking a seat at the table to get down to business, and the amount of finger-pointing and name-calling that takes place, it is no wonder why this dysfunctional family struggles to get along.Stream on Fubo
4National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Written by John Hughes,National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacationproves that not all vacations turn out to be relaxing and easy-going adventures. Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) simply wants to have a nice Christmas with his family, but as more and more people begin showing up at his door with their own problems and attitudes, he realizes that his ideal holiday may be just a fantasy.
Despite Clark trying to keep a positive demeanor when things go wrong, he has to admit that having his dysfunctional family stay at his home for the holidays was not the best idea. Between petty arguments, burdensome expectations, and even the SWAT team showing up due to a grand misunderstanding, the quiet Christmas celebration he had intended died the moment he opened the door to let people in.Stream on Max and Hulu
Related:Why National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Remains a Holiday Classic
3A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014)
Robin Williams and Joel McHale star as Virgil and Boyd Mitchler inA Merry Friggin' Christmas, afather and sonwho have never really seen eye to eye. After Boyd agrees to be his nephew’s godparent, he realizes that he is going to have to see his own family for the christening as well as Christmas, as the religious affair takes place on Christmas Eve. Boyd tries to prepare his wife and son to meet his dysfunctional family, but in reality, he is getting himself ready to deal with the chaos back at the Mitchler house in Wisconsin.
The moment Boyd and his family arrive at his father’s house, there is no question as to why he left and never looked back. The children are destroying Christmas decorations, and they have no manners at the table. Virgil is critical of his eldest son, and Boyd’s mother is a bit on the nosy side towards Boyd’s wife once the men have left. In all, this house is filled with as much love and craziness as it can possibly hold.Stream on Prime Video and Hulu
2The Family Stone (2005)
Families often have their little quirksand inside jokes, so when it comes to meeting a spouse’s entire family for the very first time, one can certainly feel like an outsider. InThe Family Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker plays Meredith, a well-educated yet uptight woman who is nervous about meeting her boyfriend’s (Dermot Mulroney) whole family for the holidays.
The main Stone family consists of Meredith’s boyfriend Everett, his four siblings, and their parents. Unfortunately for Meredith, they all have their own special way of welcoming someone new into their lives, and her rigid personality simply does not fit. The parents attempt to put on smiles, but eventually, true feelings erupt. Voices are raised, fingers are pointed, and a heated chase eventually ruins the whole holiday dinner.Stream on Hulu
1Surviving Christmas (2004)
Families alone can be crazy and dysfunctional, but, inSurviving Christmas, Drew’s newly acquired family takes things to a whole new level as they agree to pretend to be his family for the holidays. Drew (Ben Affleck) is desperate not to spend Christmas alone, so when he finds a new family living in his childhood home, he asks if he can stay with them as one of their own. They think he is crazy at first, but after he offers $250,000 for their time and effort, they agree to the ruse.
Aside from the promised check, no one thinks this “forced family” situation is a good idea. Tom, the patriarch of the family, admits that he wants to divorce his wife as they seem to no longer have any passion for one another. The eldest daughter takes a liking to Drew, and the younger son is a typical teenager who comes with his own sort of disturbing problems. Drew thought he was jumping into a normal suburban family, but he soon realizes that he was greatly mistaken.Stream on Prime Video
