Nothing Like the Holidays

Chicago Tribune Christopher Borrelli

It's what we need at the holidays, and it's the modest goal of a modest little picture like this--to capture something heartfelt and real.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The troubles are broad, the plot twists giant, and the performances cheery in this carol to ethnic pride in Chicago's traditionally Latino Humboldt Park.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The performers breathe real life into the characters, starting with Elizabeth Pena and Alfred Molina.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This unassuming and unexpectedly moving picture set in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood is a sugarplum-and-sofrito affair centering on the Rodriguez household.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Like a Christmas present you didn't know you wanted but are delighted to receive.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The situations tend toward contrivance, but the atmosphere is easygoing and the actors seem relaxed even when everyone at the family table is yelling.

Variety Brian Lowry

So "The Family Stone" becomes "The Family Rodriguez," and to their credit, the able performers wring as much mileage as they can from such familiar material.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Both despite its familiarity and because of it, Nothing Like the Holidays brings it home for Christmas.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Like fruitcake, movies like this are ubiquitous at this time of the year but rarely are they devoured with great relish or enthusiasm.

USA Today Claudia Puig

This year's warm and fuzzy Christmas movie. It's a generally winning diversion, thanks mostly to its likeable ensemble cast.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

It's a formula, all right, but a strong cast goes a long way toward carrying it off. We get one, for the most part, in Alfredo De Villa's cheerfully familiar dramedy.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Director Alfredo De Villa doesn't play it for the kind of knockabout comedy so often seen in these films (like the shrill hit "Four Christmases").

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Most of the cast range from tolerable to appealing (especially Molina and Pena), with a conspicuous exception. Debra Messing, as the career-driven outsider, is consistently stilted.

Washington Post Mike Mayo

The ensemble cast boasts some of the finest actors in the business. They do their best to breathe life into the stereotypes, but they simply don't have enough to work with.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The only distinguishing characteristic of this mildly agreeable variation of a worn-out formula is that the boisterous family under examination is Puerto Rican, and the screenplay includes a smattering of Spanish.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

The cast is appealing enough, though, and those looking for seasonal warm fuzzies can find them, as predictably touching as a muddled-through "Auld Lang Syne."

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Take a cue from Guzmán, who serves as a kind of court jester, bouncing in and out of scenes in a one-man quest to bring levity to the occasion. The movie could stand to have more of his Christmas cheer; instead, it's a recast "Family Stone."

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Is there anyone out there who hasn't seen this movie a dozen times before? Maybe even as recently as last week, since it's basically the same story line as the funnier, if less heartfelt, "Four Christmases."

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

My pleasure in seeing Chicago's underexposed Humboldt Park neighborhood on-screen was gradually overcome by this indie drama's cliched treatment of a dysfunctional family reunion.

TV Guide Perry Seibert

While it is true that nothing all that original happens during the funny parts of the movie either, the family's Puerto Rican heritage gives the movie's comedy a unique spin.

Film Threat Stina Chyn

Provides mostly entertaining spectacle.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

This overly sentimental family Christmas drama, featuring a veritable checklist of prominent Hispanic actors, falls victim to the shortcoming so prevalent in similarly ethnic-themed movies with similar casts – everything and everyone is so damn serious.

New York Post Kyle Smith

What's Spanglish for "oy"?

Los Angeles Times John Anderson