Yet another variation of the "extended family gets together for the holidays", as JGoodman and his wife of 40 years bicker about a trip to Africa from decades earlier (if that is the worst thing about a 40 years marriage.....) There is a kind of amusing subplot of Olivia Wilde's character meeting a military man at the airport, but it is obviously going nowhere, and after a while, she becomes so stuck up and annoying, that we want the guy to save himself and leave.
A handful of other vignettes concerning the various members of this extended family are thrown into the mix, Diane Keaton was miscast, and some puzzling use of CGI make this watchable, but not particularly memorable. Marisa Tomei gets arrested for shoplifting while on her way to Christmas dinner, and is driven around by the arresting officer for what appears to be several hours, while they cross examine each other, ad nauseum. A boring subplot, which is, again, obviously going nowhere. Amanda Seyfried has a few good scenes with Alan Arkin, but again, it predictably goes nowhere. At the end, the entire family displays the most random outburst of group dancing since Saving Christmas, while elderly Arkin is recovering from a stroke.
Some of these things could be forgiven, if there was more fun involved, but the laughs are only mild throughout this unfocused, cluttered mess. A plot, and a subplot were needed, not a half dozen subplots all going nowhere.
I realise this is really getting picky, but there should have been a comma in the title. As it reads now, it seems like it is telling us to love the Coopers.
