Movies

Deck the Halls

While "Deck the Halls" comes decked out in bright lights, no amount of trimming can hide its lack of originality. Matthew Broderick, a straight man for the ages, plays optometrist and Steve Finch, a sweater-wearing suburban family man who’s nuts about Christmas and married to Kelly (Kristin Davis). He’s thrown off his wave of yuletide adulation when car salesman Buddy Hall (Danny DeVito) moves in next door and quickly becomes obsessed with making his house visible from space, covering it with Christmas lights. The two quickly become rivals as their facing houses devolve into a battleground for a war not on, but about, Christmas.

The sin of "Deck the Halls" is its regifting. The humour inherent in a man focused on covering his house with Christmas lights has already been memorably put to film in 1989’s "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation." Eventually, "Deck the Halls" pushes a message that Christmas could use some updating, but this holiday season, it might be best to stick with the old Christmas movie canon _ like "Christmas Vacation."

_Jake Coyle, AP