[Nerdspresso] Nutcrackers: A Bittersweet Holiday Treat

Family friendly holiday movies are a mixed bag. Some become instant classics because they appeal to all ages (Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas) and some adults tolerate just because it keeps the kids busy for a few hours (Jim Carrey’s Grinch movie, The Christmas Chronicles). But most holiday movies, especially ones produced with the family audience in mind, are forgettable sugarplums, dripping with platitudes and artificial sweeteners. 

This is why I usually curate my holiday viewing with “Christmas Adjacent” flicks like Die Hard, Batman Returns, Gremlins and Lethal Weapon. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft spot for traditional holiday fare. I’m all down for a seasonal screening of It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story. I’m just a cinematic diabetic when it comes to sugary sweet movies. I prefer my holiday movies with a little edge. If you’re like me then Ben Stiller’s latest, which recently premiered on Hulu, is an early Christmas present. 

Nutcrackers is billed as a holiday family comedy, but that’s just the wrapping this gift comes in. The season is more a backdrop than a major theme even though the plot sounds ripped straight from the Hallmark Channel. A workaholic dude comes to rural Ohio to care for his orphaned young nephews. But that’s where the similarities end. Hallmark would pour on the syrup with lots of sweet bits with the kids warming the uncle’s cold heart. He’d flirt with the cute social worker and be redeemed by the power of Christmas and wholesome country living. 

While Nutcrackers is set during Yuletide, it’s delightfully free of holiday treacle. This movie’s approach is less overt, earning its emotional moments along with a few irreverent laughs. I wouldn’t call Nutcrackers an instant Christmas classic, but it is heartfelt and entertaining. If you’re jonesing for a major yuletide buzz, however, maybe dial up The Polar Express because Nutcrackers is not that kind of movie. 

Michael, played by Stiller, comes to look after four rambunctious boys on a disheveled Ohio farm, following the untimely death of his estranged sister and her husband. He’s a successful Chicago real estate developer who has been called out to the sticks to care for them until a suitable foster family can be located. For the past month, they have have been left to fend for themselves, loosely chaperoned by a distant family friend. 

He arrives to a chaotic household that’s more Lord of the Flies than Little House on the Prairie. There’s lots of laughs as this city slicker adapts to farm living and tries to bring structure to this tribe of lost boys. He is aided by a sympathetic social worker (Linda Cardellini from TV’s Freaks and Geeks, Netflix’s Dead to Me and Hawkeye on Disney+), who is hoping Michael will ultimately decided to adopt them. His nephews are played by the real-life Janson brothers, ages 8-13. The Jansons are not professional actors. 

Nutcrackers is not based on their lives, but the movie is shot in their actual home and their roles were influenced by their personalities. The farm animals and the family dog are all the real deal. Director David Gordon Green (the recent Halloween reboots, the Jake Gyllenhaal flick Stronger and the stoner comedy Pineapple Express) was inspired to make this movie after spending time with the Jansons, who are the children of his old friend from college. For novices, they seem very comfortable on camera and play off Stiller extremely well. 

Stiller is inhabiting a character he has played numerous times: the uptight guy in over his head (Meet the Parents, Along Came Polly). His work here has a harder edge. Perhaps real life is creeping into reel life for him as well. Over the past decade, Stiller has dealt with cancer, the loss of his parents, and marital troubles. Those experiences seem to have matured him as an actor. His performance bears a hint of melancholy that we haven’t seen before. 

His character regrets the damaged relationship with his sister, who he feels abandoned a promising career as a ballerina in NYC to get married and raise a family on a farm. As he gets to know his nephews, he reconnects with his sister’s memory. It’s subtle and touching work, especially in a movie that’s also replete with fart jokes and pratfalls. 

There’s still plenty of patented Stiller schtick on display, including a freakout in an empty field reminiscent of scenes from his more popular films. He knows where his bread is buttered. He also exhibits surprising tenderness with his young co-stars. Their scenes together don’t reek of Hollywood child actors with their prepackaged preciousness. Moments when Michael improvs a bedtime story and discusses love and loss when his young nephews are definite standouts. 

It takes some time for this movie to get going, but it ultimately pays off. The first half is amusing but predictable as Michael struggles with his rambunctious brood. While it avoids some traps of heartwarming holiday films, the movie still follows a pretty basic formula. Serious guy finds himself in a very crazy situation and hilarity ensues. Things start to get really interesting for this movie around the midway point. 

When trying to settle his sister’s affairs, Michael discovers that she had been running a small community ballet school and had passed along her passion for dance to her sons. Frustrated that he can’t find them a suitable foster home, Michael decides to mount a homegrown production of The Nutcracker to draw attention to their plight. This Nutcracker is “the best parts version,” reinterpreted by one of his nephews. It includes Clara and the Mouse King, but also features appearances by Rambo and a samurai. 

Director Green and screenwriter Leland Douglas take an enjoyable detour off the family movie road map. You would think seeing these wild boys perform ballet would be antithetical, like Huck Finn doing Hamlet, but it works. These scenes are quirky and feel true to the characters. These scenes play like The Nutcracker merged with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the beloved children’s book that’s been adapted into its own holiday family movie.

The dance numbers feel like they’re choreographed by kids, which is accurate. The Janson Boys are all trained ballet dancers and these sequences are based on their ideas. In these moments, the characters pay tribute to their lost parents through dance and it is beautiful. Everything comes together on opening night and while you know how this movie is going to end, but what actually happens is still a surprise. 

Green has crafted a lyrical and heartwarming conclusion that pays off with more emotion than most big screen tearjerkers. Nutcrackers is rough around the edges, but it stands apart from all the other family fare that will be thrown at you this holiday season. You won’t feel manipulated by phony sentiment. This movie is unpolished, but the emotions it inspires are sincere. Plus, any flick that wraps up by playing “Pure” by The Lightning Seeds is all right by me.