VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 21:09:44 08/10/08 Sun
Author: The Rhino
Subject: Retro: Home for the Holidays

With Jazz mentioning the great Robert Downey, Jr's, performances in Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, I wanted to toss out one of my favorite Downey roles in the highly underrated and under-appreciated 1995 film, Home for the Holidays.

This film, directed by Jodie Foster, centers around a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving. Holly Hunter stars as Claudia, a single mom who just lost her job due to downsizing and an illicit affair with her boss. She's shamed and on a plane back home for said holiday. Her daughter, played by a young Claire Danes, stays behind and lets Claudia know that she plans to lose her virginity while Claudia's out of town which is also weighing heavy on her mind.

Claudia's parents are played by the late Anne Bancroft (as Adele) and the great Charles Durning (as Henry). Durning is a lovable pushover of a man who does his best to keep the family from melting down. Adele is a set-in-her-ways crank of a mother who wears bad wigs and chain smokes and talks a lot about nothing. There's the sister, Joanne, played by Cynthia Stevenson, and her husband, Walter, played by Steve Guttenberg, who are the quintessential yuppie snobs who enjoy things like Tofurkey and stockbroking. There's Adele's off-kilter sister, Gladys, played by Geraldine Chaplin, who's crazy as a goose and madly in love with Henry. And then there's Downey's character Tommy, Claudia's brother and best friend, who also turns out to be gay and in love with Claudia's ex-husband. There's no bone of contention with Claudia over this matter. But there may be trouble in Tommy's relationship as he brings a friend named Leo (played by Dylan McDermott) to the festivities. A mystery surrounds the holiday and only Joanne and Walter know the sordid details. Personalities clash, secrets are revealed and fences are broken down in this well made dramedy.

Downey, however, steals the film with his character. His Tommy is the first gay character that I recall seeing in a film that wasn't played like a flaming queen. If it weren't for the storyline you would never know that his character was gay. Eureka! He wasn't playing to the stereotype. There's no lisp or scarf around the neck. That's what's so great about Downey, that he brings a humanity and a realness to his characters and doesn't play them lowbrow just to get the laugh. The laughs he gets are because he's an hysterical comedic actor and the emotion that he can draw is because he's a brilliant dramatic actor.

Tommy is very high strung and over-the-top, the family clown. Downey admits that he was doing a lot of coke when filming this movie. I guess you can see that in the shotgun blast that is his character but then, in quieter moments, you could never tell that he may be strung out. I prefer to think of him as just a brilliant actor, kind of like I think Jimi Hendrix was a brilliant guitarist or that Nick Drake was a great songwriter. I don't dwell on the fact that they had drug problems. Unlike Drake and Hendrix, Downey got hold of his demons and survived and is still doing incredible work which speaks for his talent.

If you've never seen Home for the Holidays, it's well worth a rental and it's playing on HBO this month. While the dysfunctional family film is pretty overdone at this point, it was fresh in '95. I saw this in the theater and have watched it several times over in the past 13 years. It's one you can go back to over and over again. Great direction and writing, solid acting all around (even Guttenberg) and Downey in a classic role. Truly a Must See.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.