As long as there's love, there's Christmas.
2024-11-08
N/A
92 min
An American couple bring their 10 year old daughter, Claire, to her grandfather Lawrence's hotel in The Dolomites, Italy. They usually come for Christmas but this year it’s August. The fact is they are breaking up, and once Claire realizes there’s not going to be a family Christmas this year, she insists on everyone making it out for Christmas in August. Claire, in collusion with her grandfather, plan activities that are designed to re-unite her parents.
It loses steam as it goes on, though <em>'A Sudden Case of Christmas'</em> is fairly good.
The cast are the big draw. Danny DeVito is obviously the main man, I always enjoy watching him. The likes of Andie MacDowell and Lucy DeVito are alright alongside the aforementioned, though it's Antonella Rose that is the star overall - a strong performance from the youngster. Adrian Dunbar has a small but memorable role, even if he is too good an actor for such a bit part.
It's not the most Christmassy of movies, despite the title. That's to be expected given how the story unfolds in fairness, but definitely something to be aware of if you're planning to watch this for the first time as part of your core festive viewing. It was released at Xmas time, but honestly a summer release would've been more fitting; à la the plot.
What's there, though, is perfectly watchable and the Italian surroundings look grand, at least. It only lasts for around 90 minutes, I admittedly did feel it drag a bit towards the end. More meat on the bones would've helped, the finale could've been something more interesting than what we get with the four-legged fella.
All in all, I consider this narrowly passable. 7/10.
