THE STORY: A workaholic real estate developer must travel to rural Ohio to take care of his four nephews after a tragic accident left them orphaned.
THE CAST: Ben Stiller, Linda Cardellini, Homer Janson, Ulysses Janson, Atlas Janson & Arlo Janson
THE TEAM: David Gordon Green (Director) & Leland Douglas (Screenwriter)
THE RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes
After a string of horror films over the last six years, director David Gordon Green returns to a more upbeat tone with his latest family comedy, “Nutcrackers.” Written by Leland Douglas, the story sees a workaholic travel to rural Ohio to handle the affairs of his late sister’s estate and look after her four orphaned sons. On paper, the film sounds like a heartwarming comedy preaching the importance of family over career. In reality, Green’s latest is an unfair judgment of those who choose not to have kids.
Three weeks before Christmas, hotshot real estate developer Michael (Ben Stiller) is on the verge of a breakthrough at work. In the middle of prepping for his big work pitch, he is summoned to rural Ohio to manage his late sister’s affairs, including looking after her young four children: Justice (Homer Janson), Junior (Ulysses Janson), Samuel (Atlas Janson), and Simon (Arlo Janson). On the way, in his fancy, canary-yellow Porsche, Michael realizes he has a tough couple of days ahead of him after losing cell phone service. Even more shockingly, he arrives at a filthy barn filled with animals and four unruly boys ready to pull pranks on him at any given chance. Michael is clearly in over his head.
Once deemed incapable of love by his sister, Michael knows he has his work cut out for him. Not only does he have to look after the kids in the middle of an important project, but he must also identify new parents for the boys with the help of family services agent Gretchen (Linda Cardellini). In the middle of his search, 12-year-old Justice frequently asks, “When I wake up, are you still going to be here?” It’s a question intended to awe the audience and prepare us for the inevitable happy ending. However, “Nutcrackers” contains so many hurdles getting there that they stand in the way of resulting in the kind of feel-good movie we used to get in the good ol’ days.
It’s easy to see how a film like “Nutcrackers” could (and should) have won over hearts. Four young boys, who learn early on that life throws us unfortunate curveballs, are no longer alone when their uncle Mike arrives to take care of them. Yet, somewhere along the journey, the team behind this intended heartfelt feature decided to villainize the selfish Michael when he is very clearly in over his head. For all the trouble family services have gone through to identify appropriate custodians for the kids, it seems silly they’re willing to look past Michael’s lack of trustworthiness and ability to care for them — all in the name of keeping them with a relative. It didn’t make sense for the story and certainly doesn’t make sense for what we know about the process. But, reality be damned.
Had there been a more realistic progression to the film’s ending, you might be willing to look past the lack of detail within the formal guardianship process. However, the excessive guilt-tripping of Michael to take on his four nephews is too over-the-top. We are living in a time when it’s finally becoming socially acceptable for women to not want to have children. There’s no need to go backward as a society by vilifying men for the same concept. This story tries so hard to focus on its feel-good nature by pairing an unprepared, selfish (and we don’t mean this as an insult, as it’s okay to be self-aware with selfishness) man with four children while failing to show an actual example of doing right by those very same kids.
Rest assured, the idea of Michael becoming the parent of those four boys isn’t a problem. Truth be told, an alternative ending wouldn’t feel right. Unfortunately, the script wasn’t written in a way that assures audiences that it was his choice because he genuinely loved and wanted to take care of them rather than feeling guilt-tripped into doing so. Even Gretchen gets in on the action of making Mike feel bad, sharing that some people can’t physically have kids and would be grateful for them. As written, the script is unconvincing with its tactics, which end up becoming its biggest detriment. What was supposed to be a heartfelt journey of self-discovery and love turned out to be a half-baked attempt at creating a nostalgic family movie.
