''A Merry Friggin' Christmas'' (Also known as ''A Merry Christmas Miracle'') is a 2014 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film directed by

Tristram Shapeero Tristram Shapeero is a British television director. He has directed many comedy series, initially in the United Kingdom and later in the United States. Early life Shapeero was born in Somerset and spent his childhood in Bath, where he attended ...

and written by Phil Johnston. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

featuring

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performed i ...

Lauren Graham Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild ...

Clark Duke Clark Duke (born May 5, 1985) is an American actor, comedian, and director known for his roles in the films '' Kick-Ass'', ''Sex Drive'', and ''Hot Tub Time Machine'', as well as playing Clark Green in the TV series ''The Office'', Dale Kettlew ...

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), ''Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), ''Executiv ...

Wendi McLendon-Covey Wendi McLendon-Covey (née McLendon; born October 10, 1969) is an American actress and comedian. She is known primarily for her work in comedic and improvisational roles. Since 2013, McLendon-Covey has played the role of Beverly Goldberg, a fami ...

Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including ''Bridesmaids' ...

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also know ...

, and

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

. The film was released by

Phase 4 Films Phase 4 Films was a Canadian film distribution company based in Toronto. It had two branches in the United States: Los Angeles, California and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Its subsidiary kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment. Histo ...

on November 7, 2014. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Boyd Mitchler must spend Christmas with his estranged family of misfits. Upon realizing that he left all of his son's gifts at home, he hits the road with his dad in an attempt to make the 8-hour round trip before sunrise.

Cast

as Boyd Mitchler *

as Mitch Mitchler *

as Luann Mitchler *

as Donna Mitchler *

as Nelson Mitchler *

as Dave Mitchler *

as Shauna Mitchler *

Pierce Gagnon Pierce Gagnon (born July 25, 2005) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the film ''Looper'' and in the CBS series ''Extant'', as well as voicing Tim Templeton in the Netflix series '' The Boss Baby: Back in Business''. Personal life ...

as Douglas Mitchler * Amara Miller as Pam Mitchler * Ryan Lee as Rance Mitchler *

Bebe Wood Bebe Wood is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Shania in the NBC television series '' The New Normal'', as Shannon on the ABC television series ''The Real O'Neals'', and as Lake Meriwether on the Hulu Original series ...

as Vera Mitchler *

as Hobo Santa *

Amir Arison Amir Arison (born March 24, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his work as FBI tech expert Aram Mojtabai on NBC’s ''The Blacklist'' for nine seasons. Early life and education Arison was born in Saint Louis, MO to father Ron Arison, ...

as Farhad *

Mark Proksch Mark Proksch ( '; born ) is an American comedian and character actor. He is best known for acting in the television series ''The Office'', ''Better Call Saul'', ''Dream Corp LLC'', '' What We Do in the Shadows'' and as a fictionalized version o ...

as Trooper Zblocki * Gene Jones as Glen *

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

as Snow Globe Snowman (voice)

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in April 2013 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Williams died on August 11, 2014, before the film was released and was dedicated to his memory.

Release

The film was released by

on November 7, 2014. It is the first film starring Robin Williams to be released after his death on August 11, 2014.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a rating of 14%, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 3.45/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merry Friggin' Christmas 2014 films 2014 black comedy films 2014 independent films American black comedy films American Christmas films American independent films Entertainment One films Films scored by Ludwig Göransson Films about dysfunctional families Films set in Chicago Films set in Wisconsin Films shot in Atlanta Phase 4 Films films American road movies 2010s road movies 2010s Christmas films 2014 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films