Oh. What. Fun.

There are no small parts in a Michael Showalter movie. Every actor is a star when they’re on camera.

If the idea was to make something for the moms, “Oh. What. Fun.” is about as thoughtful as a hastily scribbled card on a piece of printer paper the morning of her birthday. We can all do better.

To put it simply: it's just another Christmas flick with an artificial heart — if it even has one at all.

You know that your comedy is in crisis when you’ve substituted actual jokes for the grating rhythms of an oompah band. Still, Pfeiffer remains charismatic till the end. She deserved better.

Nothing can distract us from a script that just doesn’t work, family dynamics we don’t believe, jokes we don’t laugh at and characters we don’t care about. Oh. What. Fun. is anything but.

Director Michael Showalter’s yuletide anthem for unheralded matriarchs fumbles severely, delivering bland comedic hijinks, insufferable characters and generic conundrums.

Beyond its desperate gestures towards better movies and its countless regifted plot points, Oh. What. Fun. does end up looking a lot like a familiar Christmas fixture: a garbage bag full of torn wrapping paper.

"Oh. What. Fun." is just another Christmas flick with an artificial heart — if it even has one at all. While it has an excellent director, Michael Showalter, who also co-scripted, some nice music, and top performers, and the exquisitely lovely Havana Rose Liu, very appealing as Jeanne’s daughter, it keeps undermining our sympathy with off-kilter stakes and inert efforts at humor but still enjoyable to watch. Claire has always been a fixer. She cannot help it. Every Christmas, she is the engine behind the sprawling family celebration, orchestrating every detail for her now-adult children while simultaneously waging suburban holiday warfare against her flawlessly put-together, cardigan-clad neighbor, Jeanne Wang-Wasserman. But this year, Claire’s one wish is simple: she wants her children to finally see her. All they have to do is submit her application for the “Mother of the Year” contest on the holiday special of Zazzy Tims’ daytime talk show. Despite her gentle nudges, painfully and predictably, her kids forget. The last straw snaps when they also forget to take her to the highly anticipated Christmas dance show the family has been planning to attend. Left literally and figuratively alone, Claire reaches a turning point. If no one else is going to champion her, she will take ownership of the holiday herself and perhaps, for the first time, of her own personal joy. Written by Michael Showalter and Chandler Baker and directed by Showalter, boasts an impressive ensemble: Michelle Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dominic Sessa, Jason Schwartzman, Joan Chen, Maude Apatow, Danielle Brooks, and Eva Longoria. Pfeiffer especially grounds the film with a blend of comic precision and emotional vulnerability that elevates even its broadest beats. The film is one of those Christmas stories that instantly feels familiar, not in the formulaic Hallmark or Lifetime sense, but in the broader, lived-in tradition of seasonal movies. It mirrors some of the core beats of Home Alone: the mother who is forgotten, left behind, and forced to fend for herself. Yet the third act lands in a surprisingly grounded place, even as the movie indulges in a few warm, Hallmark-esque moments toward its conclusion. Unsurprisingly, "Oh. What. Fun." leans heavily into the idea that mothers are often overlooked during the holidays, despite being the invisible scaffolding that holds everything together. And while that is a sentiment many families can relate to, the film broadens the theme: the thanklessness of motherhood is not seasonal; it is constant. In a twist that feels both honest and a little self-aware, the movie then tries to undo the guilt it has spent so long cultivating. It suggests that mothers do not just endure being needed, they sometimes thrive on it. Like a good mother, the film offers comfort even as it delivers hard truths, leaving the audience with the sense that recognition, while overdue, is always worth giving. "Oh. What. Fun." may not reinvent the holiday-movie wheel, but it navigates familiar terrain with charm, warmth, and a pointed, at times uncomfortable, honesty. It is a film that recognizes the emotional labor behind the season and, fittingly, gives the overlooked matriarch her overdue moment at center stage.

I'd actually give it a 6.5 since most of the christmas/romance movies that are any good are 6.5 or better. I was surprised at the actors in this movie. I almost didn't recognize Michelle Pfeiffer but she's still beautiful at 67. The story was a typical one and the sidelines were amusing. We'd give this: "go ahead and watch because it's a good holiday movie."

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Michelle Pfeiffer adopts a slight Texan accent as a mom doing all the prep for her family’s Christmas gathering. After being frustrated by her lack of appreciation, she sets out on a dumb trip to seek her own reward. With comic stalwarts like Denis Leary & Jason Schwartzman you’d hope for at least a few funny moments, but they never materialize. Pfeiffer is fine as she leads the cause of mother appreciation. Other than this sincere message, there’s not much to make this holiday adventure worth the watch. And it’s never clear why they decided to use the periods after each word.

This movie is about women manufacturing drama, drama getting out of control, complaining to everyone about said drama and how boo hoo hard it is to be a woman and manage the drama they create and then finally drama coming to a resolution. snore. Does have some good actors in it though.