Here's my two cents.
The director gave admirable attempt in trying to give us four different point of views on a typically American tradition, and it has it's share of entertaining moments. But somehow it fell short of my expectations. It gave us four ethnic families, but failed to give us some depth to the material. The film's take on issues is often too shallow to serve any lasting, meaningful merit on such an important cultural topic.
What most critics failed to see is that the truth is, most people have very little idea about many other cultures in this world. So we just accept what we see on the screen. Perhaps this contributed to the flawed script, which pigeonholed the families into what we might expect from families of African, Hispanic, Jewish, and Vietnamese decent. Mind you, it seems though that the writers are trying to be as politically correct as possible, and the genuine attempt on being culturally diverse (which many people appreciated, including me), the film is marred slightly by the lack of true, unbiased understanding of different cultures. Hence, the result looks like a bunch of families living out their stereotyped stigma.
I loved one scene around the African-American dinner table, where the girl reminded everyone that today their families can enjoy eating Turkey, but at the cost of real Americans who suffered colonialism. It was the best scene of the film, and unfortunately it was a very short scene.
The script needs a bit of polish, and has only touched the tip of a bigger iceberg. But nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable film. Highly recommended.
The director gave admirable attempt in trying to give us four different point of views on a typically American tradition, and it has it's share of entertaining moments. But somehow it fell short of my expectations. It gave us four ethnic families, but failed to give us some depth to the material. The film's take on issues is often too shallow to serve any lasting, meaningful merit on such an important cultural topic.
What most critics failed to see is that the truth is, most people have very little idea about many other cultures in this world. So we just accept what we see on the screen. Perhaps this contributed to the flawed script, which pigeonholed the families into what we might expect from families of African, Hispanic, Jewish, and Vietnamese decent. Mind you, it seems though that the writers are trying to be as politically correct as possible, and the genuine attempt on being culturally diverse (which many people appreciated, including me), the film is marred slightly by the lack of true, unbiased understanding of different cultures. Hence, the result looks like a bunch of families living out their stereotyped stigma.
I loved one scene around the African-American dinner table, where the girl reminded everyone that today their families can enjoy eating Turkey, but at the cost of real Americans who suffered colonialism. It was the best scene of the film, and unfortunately it was a very short scene.
The script needs a bit of polish, and has only touched the tip of a bigger iceberg. But nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable film. Highly recommended.