Ben Stiller’s Christmas film ‘Nutcrackers’ is being savaged online: “It’s just pointless”
Ben Stiller‘s new Christmas film Nutcrackers has been panned by fans online.
The festive film was released last Friday (November 29) on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.
It sees Stiller star as a work-obsessed Chicago real estate developer who, following the death of his sister, travels to rural Ohio to assist a child services worker (Linda Cardellini) in finding a home for his four misbehaved nephews (portrayed by the Janson brothers), who harbour untapped talents as ballet dancers.
Now, fans on a Reddit movie thread have been giving their verdict on the movie. “Nutcrackers is, without a doubt, the worst movie I’ve seen in years,” one wrote.
Another added: “Just absolutely awful performances from every single person,” while one other wrote: “The movie is painfully dull, predictable, unoriginal, and hard to watch.”
One fan also said: “I don’t think any laughs were had during that movie.”
Despite the criticism, some fans felt it could have been worse.
“I thought the ending was cute and touching.” wrote one fan. “It’s predictable and had problems but it’s not the worst movie in history. They almost had a great movie but it missed at almost every point where it could have done something.”
Another added: “Dramatic AF – it was very serviceable as a fun holiday movie. Certainly doesn’t warrant a reaction like THIS.”
Elsewhere, Stiller recently revealed his thoughts about the legacy of Tropic Thunder, believing the film would have little chance of getting made today.
When asked if the film could be made today, Stiller replied: “I doubt it.”
“Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do. Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.”
Robert Downey Jr. played Kirk Lazarus in the movie, an Australian method actor who goes to extremes for his role – namely, undergoing “pigmentation alteration” surgery to closely resemble the African-American staff sergeant he intends to portray.
“It’s a very inside movie when you think about it. But yeah, the idea of Robert playing that character who’s playing an African American character, I mean, incredibly dicey,” Stiller elaborated.
“Even at the time, of course, it was dicey too. The only reason we attempted it was I felt like the joke was very clear in terms of who that joke was on – actors trying to do anything to win awards. But now, in this environment, I don’t even know if I would have ventured to do it, to tell you the truth. I’m being honest.”
Stiller has more recently turned to the director’s chair, with his Apple TV+ series Severance becoming a surprise hit back in 2022. Its highly-anticipated season two will be released in January 2025.
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Damian Jones
NME
