Ben Stiller's Christmas Film 'Nutcrackers' Is Not As Bad As It Looks

I’ll be the first to admit that I watched Hulu’s Ben Stiller flick Nutcrackers because I thought it would give me an excuse to dunk on a Christmas movie. Through the film’s first act, it’s exactly what I anticipated: a soporific, formulaic film that asks Ben Stiller to do what he did for most of the ’90s — react angrily to frustrating situations. That’s Stiller’s whole schtick, and it probably made him a great dad to younger kids who love nothing more than seeing their father feign pain.

The first act was just barely interesting enough — fueled, honestly, by the occasional presence of Linda Cardellini — to keep me watching. I’m glad I did because the film turns a corner into something predictably sweet but in slightly unpredictable ways.

Stiller plays Mike Maxwell, a Chicago suit who drives a Porsche and is obsessed with his job. After the unexpected death of his estranged sister and her husband, Mike drives out to her farm to facilitate the transfer of her four kids into a foster home. Only, the prospective foster parents back out, leaving him to care for the kids until he can find a new placement. The four boys are the kind of monsters you might expect from hippie parents who raised them on a farm with no rules and homeschooled them. They basically turn Mike’s life into a living hell. And again: This is both what Ben Stiller does best — falling down and reacting angrily — and what typically makes his mid-career comedies so insufferable.

And look, everyone who has ever seen a movie knows exactly where Nutcrackers is headed: the single, work-obsessed guy who dislikes kids is going to become fond of them, and the kids who troll their uncle are going to grow attached to him. After a contrived impediment, they’ll all end up living happily ever after as a family.

But here’s the thing: this is a David Gordon Green film. While the guy’s track record is spotty as hell (he directed the terrific 2018 Halloween reboot, but also its sequels and the atrocious Exorcist reboot), he’ll always be the guy who directed All the Real Girls and George Washington. That guy’s soul is still in there, buried under a mountain of cash, and he occasionally goes against the grain and bucks formula.

It’s that guy who makes an appearance in the third act. For my money (which is $0 because this thing streams for free on Hulu), the “Nutcrackers” sequence the entire film builds toward actually makes the viewing experience worthwhile. It’s sweet, a little unusual, and there’s just enough of an indie film vibe to understand why Stiller and Cardellini signed on (aside from the easy money). It’s not a good movie, but it is a great sequence, and as disposable family films go, it sure beats the hell out of Red One.