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

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

film directed by Tristram Shapeero and written by Phil Johnston. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many 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 the po ...

featuring

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger, Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV seri ...

Lauren Graham Lauren Helen Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American Actor, actress and author. She is best known for portraying Lorelai Gilmore on The WB series ''Gilmore Girls'', for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – ...

Clark Duke Clark Duke (born May 5, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films '' Sex Drive'' (2008), '' Kick-Ass'' (2010), '' Hot Tub Time Machine'' (2010), and '' The Croods'' (2013), as well as playing Clark Green in ''The Office ...

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his work on stage and screen. He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Tony Award. Following his acting deb ...

Wendi McLendon-Covey Wendi McLendon-Covey (née McLendon; born October 10, 1969) is an American actress known primarily for her work in comedic and improvisational roles. From 2013 until 2023, she played the role of family matriarch Beverly Goldberg on the ABC come ...

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. As an actor, Heidecker's filmography includes roles in ' ...

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...

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 comedie ...

. The film was released by Phase 4 Films on November 7, 2014. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

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

Cast

as Boyd Mitchler *

as Virgil Mitchler, Boyd's father *

as Luann Mitchler, Boyd's wife *

as Donna Mitchler, Boyd's mother *

as Nelson Mitchler, Boyd's younger brother *

as Shauna Mitchler-Weinke, Boyd's older sister *

as Dave Weinke, Shauna's husband * Pierce Gagnon as Douglas Mitchler, Boyd and Luann's son * Bebe Wood as Vera Mitchler, Boyd and Luann's daughter * Amara Miller as Pam Weinke, Shauna and Dave's daughter * Ryan Lee as Rance Weinke, Shauna and Dave's son *

as Hobo Santa * Amir Arison as Farhad * Mark Proksch as Trooper Zblocki * Gene Jones as Glen *

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired 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 ...

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 the ...

began in April 2013 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

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

Release

The film was released by Phase 4 Films 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 aggregator, 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 ...

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

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Jesse Hassenger of ''the'' ''A.V. Club'' wrote, "Williams made some terrible movies, but he never phoned them in. On both counts, this one's no exception."

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote, "Representing one of Robin Williams's last films, A Merry Friggin' Christmas lives up to its bah, humbug title. Not only because it's terrible, although it is, but rather because one desperately hoped that the beloved actor would go out on a high note." Geoff Berkshire of '' Variety'' wrote, "Neither warm and fuzzy in the best holiday movie traditions, nor edgy and irreverent a la 'Bad Santa' (coincidentally also co-starring Graham, to better effect), it's something of a mystery what audience A Merry Friggin' Christmas intends to serve."

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 Lionsgate Canada films Films scored by Ludwig Göransson Films about dysfunctional families Films produced by Anthony and Joe Russo Films set in Chicago Films set in Wisconsin Films shot in Atlanta Films with screenplays by Phil Johnston (filmmaker) Phase 4 Films films American road movies 2010s road movies 2010s Christmas films 2014 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language black comedy films English-language independent films English-language Christmas films