Movie Review: ‘Love the Coopers’ should be retitled ‘A Christmess Story’

MOVIE REVIEW: “LOVE THE COOPERS” (PG-13)

Love the Coopers? It’s hard to “love” them when I barely like them. And having likable characters is pretty essential in a Christmas movie, unless you’re “Bad Santa” or “The Ref.” The thing is, as irreverent as those movies were, they really brought the laughs. “Love the Coopers”? Not so much.

In “Love the Coopers,” married couple Charlotte and Sam (Diane Keaton and John Goodman) have fallen out of love, but despite their issues, they hope to get the extended family out to their home for one final Christmas get-together before they throw in the towel. Will they be able to put their petty differences aside long enough to make it through the holidays? Will their wildly dysfunctional family members even make it to the house in time for dinner? Rest assured, “Love the Coopers” answers these questions, but it’s a chaotic, bumpy ride along the way.

Following a Charlotte and Sam set up, “Love the Coopers” delves into intertwining subplots, all of which revolve around four generations of a single family. Said subplots include a potential love connection at an airport, a psychiatry session in a police car, a bond between an elderly gentleman and a waitress, and a crush between an awkward teen and the girl of his dreams.

“Love the Coopers” is in the tradition of holiday-inspired dysfunctional family dramadies like “Home For the Holidays” and “The Family Stone,” only not as good. Part of the problem is, this movie has far too much going on. It’s convoluted to the point that a more appropriate title might have been “A Christmess Story.”

“Love the Coopers” is certainly well-intentioned—and isn’t necessarily lacking in that Christmas feel—but there’s so much going on that none of these plot threads and relationships are given sufficient time to breathe. As a result, the multiple resolutions that make up the end of the picture feel somewhat unearned.

Perhaps the most emotionally moving thread in “Love the Coopers” involves an elderly man (played by Alan Arkin) and his friendship with a sweet but lost waitress (played by Amanda Seyfried). Arkin and Seyfried are wonderful here, and they bring a surprising amount of weight to their brief scenes, none more powerful than a heartfelt exchange in a diner kitchen.

If only the thread involving a liberal-minded and obnoxiously sarcastic woman (played by Olivia Wilde) and her aggravatingly underdeveloped bond with a likable solider (played by Jake Lacy) in an airport were half as interesting. Another thread, in which a character played by Marisa Tomei is busted for shoplifting at a department store and ultimately finds herself serving as a shrink to a conflicted police officer (played by Anthony Mackie) does absolutely nothing to elevate the proceedings.

“Love the Coopers” features an outstanding cast, doing the best they can with the somewhat heavy-handed material, but at the end of the day, the overstuffed nature of the proceedings sort of lets them down. And adding to the frustration is an intrusive Steve Martin voiceover that essentially force feeds the actions and inner thoughts of many of the characters to the viewer throughout the film. The final moments of “Love the Coopers” offers up a sense of whimsy that boldly attempts to justify the reason behind Martin’s affectionate voiceover, but it never really comes together.

Nothing beats a great Christmas movie, and despite the best of intentions, “Love the Coopers” comes up short. Whereas holiday movies go, this is more watchable than “Christmas With the Kranks,” but that’s faint praise at best.