Well, it is the end of the year and time for full-on tinsel, carols, an explosion of red, green, and gold; presents; ugly jumpers (oh Bridget!); and nasty people holding buildings to ransom — yes, Die Hard counts as a Christmas film. On cue, we have a Christmas film with all the required thingamabobs, including songs, snow, family meltdowns and the big realisation.
Oh. What. Fun. opens with Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer) at a gas station telling three screaming children (after asking the harried mother if she can) that they need to appreciate their mother more. Then we go back to a day earlier where Claire is getting the family home just right for the Christmas holidays.
Oh. What. Fun. (English)
Director: Michael Showalter
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Dominic Sessa, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, Joan Chen
Runtime: 108 minutes
Storyline: An underappreciated mother, forgotten during a family outing, takes off on a Christmas road trip to rediscover herself
As Claire plumps the cushions, fills the stockings and cooks up a storm, we learn that the one thing Claire wants more than anything is to be nominated as holiday mom of the year at her favourite television show, The Zazzy Tims’ Show.
Claire’s husband, Nick, (Denis Leary) has retired to his den to build a dollhouse. We meet the family, as they troop in for the annual vacation.
There is Claire’s eldest daughter, Channing (Felicity Jones), a novelist; her mild-mannered husband, Doug (Jason Schwartzman); and their twins, Lucy (Rafaella Karnaby) and Ben (Drake Shehan).
A still from ‘Oh. What. Fun.’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video
Sammy (Dominic Sessa) the youngest Clauster, is considered the baby of the family and is nursing a broken heart after his girlfriend, Mae-Bell (Maude Apatow) dumps him for not getting a real job — camp counsellor does not cut it.
Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the other Clauster daughter who brings home a new girlfriend every year and this year it is DJ Sweat Pants or Donna (Devery Jacobs). Claire’s neighbour, Jeanne Wang-Wasserman (Joan Chen), is the bane of her life — for no particular reason apart from being a sight too perfect.
There is all the unsaid resentments and tamped down feelings as well as some strange dashing off to the mall to pick up a candle with more than three wicks, before the unthinkable happens and Claire is left behind while the rest of the family go off for a Christmas show, she bought tickets for.
A still from ‘Oh. What. Fun.’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video
Each person thinks she is in the other car and for some strange reason do not think to call her on the phone when they realise she is not at the show. They could surely have gone back and got her — they would not have had to brave Silk Board Junction!
And so Claire throws stuff into a bag (not a jacket), and heads out in a huff and meets the harried mom with the screaming kids at the gas station. She meets another man at a coffee shop, goes to motel which has no vacancy and tries to share a room with a delivery driver, Morgan (Danielle Brooks) who cannot sleep unless the telly is on loud and whales are shrieking.
After many miles and random meetings including with Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria), things come out sort of right. With three Oscar nominees (Pfeiffer, Jones, Brooks), the acting department is well stocked and it is a shame that neither they nor the rest of the cast were used wisely. The characters are not particularly likeable, and the film offers no real reason for their behaviour. Oh. What. Fun. is not dreadful but neither is it unbridled joy.
Oh. What. Fun is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Published – December 05, 2025 12:53 pm IST
