This is one of those Ed Burns movie, all about big Irish family, smaltzy but delightful. I liked it. Emotional drama is everywhere. A dad who took off for 20 years--abandonment issues with most everybody, especially a son who is a drug addict and just got out of rehab. The father shows back up for his last Christmas since he has pancreactic cancer. See what I mean, drama. One sister is banging the boy who cuts her lawn. Another sister is fixated on her child, nasty to husband. Another sister and brother are going after abusive husband. Ed Burns plays the role of patriarch who wants to fix everything. Main plot centered around mother who won't allow father to come home and to Christmas dinner. Like I said, pretty smaltzy.
In some ways the movie reminds me of my own family at a lower level. We were NC farmers and didn't have the same types of drama rather an amazing devotion to each other and our parents. What is the major difference in our drama and the Fitzgerald Family Christmas is the military. We were all in the military, all five of us, like stair steps, starting with our oldest brother who was a Marine on Guadalcanal. From then on with the four of us it was war and absence in some fashion: Korea and Vietnam. This factored in everything. When we gathered for Christmas, part of our drama was the absence probably of a brother gone to war or preparing to go. In the Fitzgerald Family Christmas, not even a mention of Military Service. Very interesting.
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