Nutcrackers
David Gordon Green's Christmas dramedy is familiar, heartfelt.
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You’ll know exactly where director David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers” (now streaming on Hulu) is going the second it starts, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a trip worth taking.
Ben Stiller stars as Michael Maxwell, a Chicago yuppie working in commercial real estate who’s hailed to the rural Ohio farm that belonged to his ballerina sister and ice cream man brother-in-law after their untimely passing in a tragic car crash. They had four unruly sons named Justice, Junior, Samuel and Simon (played by real-life brothers Homer, Ulysses, Atlas and Arlo Janson) who are Michael’s responsibility until Child Protective Services social worker Gretchen (Linda Cardellini, always a welcome presence) can find them a new home.
Mike – as the kids call him much to his consternation – is in the midst of the biggest deal of his career, but his time and focus are split. Junior informs Mike that his mother said he was incapable of love, which doesn’t seem entirely fair or accurate. The boys are homeschooled and Mike does his honest to goodness best trying to teach them sex ed. Younger twin boys Samuel and Simon request a bedtime story, but have the caveat it must be violent. Mike regales them with the tale of John J. Rambo and his skirmish against Sherriff Will Teasle.
Mike sees prospective parents for the children in the small town’s wealthiest man Aloysius “Al” Wilmington (Toby Huss) and Rose (Edi Patterson), a single foster mother with scads of kids who seems more interested in playing house with Mike as opposed to caring for the boys.
Mike and the boys begin bonding when they stage a reimagining of “The Nutcracker” written by Justice in order to pay tribute to their parents and possibly save their late mother’s dance studio.
“Nutcrackers” as directed by Green and scripted by Leland Douglas is pretty juvenile (there are multiple fart jokes and references to dicks, penises and wieners), but its heart is in the right place even if its brain is in the gutter. I was moved to tears by the picture’s moving, albeit inevitable, conclusion. It’s also beautifully shot in many instances by frequent Green collaborator Michael Simmonds – especially when the boys disperse their parents’ ashes amid the flares of a nighttime bonfire.
Stiller is arguably 10 to 15 years too old for this part, but it’s nice to see him in a starring role again after a prolonged absence and his patented arrogant, deadpan and neurotic screen presence fits Mike like a glove. He also plays well opposite the Janson brothers who are naturals.
Your enjoyment of “Nutcrackers” will likely depend largely upon your tolerance towards young men having long hair and acting out of sorts. I’m open to these sorts of things (unlike my more conservative wife and many of the movie’s characters) and was reminded of a quote from the Stiller vehicle “The Royal Tenenbaums” – “… you can’t raise boys to be scared of life. You gotta brew some recklessness into them.” I agree and I was entertained.