HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

(director/writer: Jodie Foster; screenwriter: based on a short story by Chris Radant, W. D. Richter; cinematographer: Lajos Koital; editor: Lynzee Klingman; music: Mark Isham; cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Tommy Larson), Holly Hunter (Claudia Larson), Ann Bancroft (Adele Larson), Charles Durning (Henry Larson), Geraldine Chaplin (Aunt Glady), Cynthia Stevenson (Joanne), Steve Guttenberg (Walter Wedman), Claire Danes (Kitt), David Strathairn (Russell Terziak), Dylan McDermott (Leo Fish),  Austin Pendleton (Peter Arnold, museum boss); Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Peggy Rajski, Jodie Foster; Paramount Pictures; 2025)

“Won’t give you indigestion nor will it satisfy your appetite.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

An under-cooked Thanksgiving satire helmed by the actress-turned-director Jodie Foster (“Money Monster”/”The Beaver”). Foster turns in a dry script with W. D. Richter that’s based on a short story by Chris Radant. It wastes a solid ensemble cast with such a bland holiday treat.


The single mom Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) has been fired from her art restorer job at a Chicago museum. Her 15-year-old daughter Kitt (Claire Danes) is a virgin who stays home for the holiday and plans to lose her virginity with her boyfriend while Claudia goes home for the traditional Thanksgiving turkey family meal in Baltimore.

The feisty Claudia interacts at her parents’ house with her sweet dad (Charles Durning), domineering mom (Anne Bancroft), her hot-shot gay brother Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), her loony Aunt Glady (Geraldine Chaplin) and her homophobic sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson).

Tommy brings along his flighty gay lover Leo (Dylan McDermott) and Joanne is with her yuppie banker husband Walter (Steve Guttenberg).

There are arguments, and a food fight among the guests serves as the film’s dessert. 

It’s a sentimental, mild and breezy dysfunctional family film that won’t give you indigestion nor will it satisfy your appetite.

It played at the Berlin Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 11/27/2025  GRADE: B-
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