While the industry has shifted and changed in various ways, one kind of film has tended to remain popular, regardless of how much audiences ebb and flow in terms of subject matter. For about as long as the medium has existed, there have been active efforts to make films about the holiday season, with Christmas being one of the most profitable times of the year and one that many artists have endeavoured to explore in their way, knowing that a well-crafted holiday season film has unusual staying power. All it takes is a good idea and convincing execution. David Gordon Green stakes his claim at making his own version of a Christmas classic, which comes in the form of Nutcrackers, a film he directed based on a screenplay by Leland Douglas, which follows the story of Michael, a real estate developer who travels to rural Ohio just before the holiday season, as he has some family business to tend to, which occurs concurrently to a deal he has been working on, meaning that he is at the peak of his frustrations, made only worse by the fact that his sister and her husband have recently died, leaving behind four young children and a number of issues with their estate, meaning that Michael not only has to do his best to resolve these issues, but now is put in charge of the wellbeing of a group of rebellious children, who are as enthused by his presence as he is theirs, especially since he has the unenviable task of helping a local social worker find a home for the boys, which proves to be quite a difficult endeavour, especially during the holiday season. Green has worked laboriously over the past few years to re-establish himself as a serious filmmaker since there was a long stretch where he was producing films that were middling at the best of times. While he’s certainly not someone who has found much success in his forays into more genre-specific works, he does demonstrate a sincere humanity that makes his work on this film feel like a throwback to his breakthrough films, while still retaining some of the signature traits he’s developed over the years. The film is a solid effort, being a relatively strong affair, even when some of it is arguably less effective, which reminds us of a time when he was making films that felt like they had a distinct point of view, even if only at their foundation.

Family and holidays tend to go together more often than not, and whether it’s with those to whom we are related or the family we choose, there is something about gathering around a table to celebrate Christmas that has been ingrained in a lot of Western culture, almost to the point where it borders on cliched. Nutcrackers is yet another film about the importance of family, and follows a very familiar structure, whereby we see someone who doesn’t see the value in the holidays and is forced to realize that he cannot depend entirely on his career forever, and instead comes to the stark realization that life means nothing if you don’t have anyone to share it with, even if only marginally. Green does not attempt to do too much with this premise, which proves to be a much more engaging affair based on its simplicity. The thematic foundation of the film is clear from the start, and it uses techniques that will be familiar to many of us, being more reliable than it is innovative, which is ultimately one of the only instances where a film can get away with following conventions down to the smallest detail. There is a sense of sadness to this story, and it resists becoming too bawdy by introducing conversations on how it feels to lose someone and go through the holidays without them. Family is beautiful, but it can also be temporary, and everyone will likely experience the pain of going through the festive season without someone by their side. Grief is not as common in many Christmas-based films, but it is something that will resonate with any viewer who can recognize the challenges that come with trying to be jolly when it is far easier to just retreat. Finding the strength to go on is far more important, and this film tends to use this as the basis for some of its more touching moments, especially those that feel derived from something far more real and earnest. There’s something very effective about a film that is this willing to have tough discussions while still being very entertaining, and the blend of the two ideas is very impactful when weaving together all the elements that make Nutcrackers genuinely quite moving.

One of the more compelling features of Nutcrackers is that it features Ben Stiller’s return to leading roles, which is particularly notable considering that, except for a few cameo performances and a couple of supporting roles, he has been quite absent from acting for a few years, with The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Brad’s Status being his most recent starring vehicles, nearly a decade ago. As one of the most familiar comedy actors of his generation, he was sorely missed, and while he did continue to work behind the scenes for the most part, his absence was felt when it came to acting. Green, who is just as enamoured with Stiller’s acting style as we are, casts him in a role that is very much within his wheelhouse, playing this down-on-his-luck everyman who moves from the big city to a small working-class community and is forced to reconcile his lack of grit with the salt-of-the-earth residents that surround him. Nothing about this performance is revolutionary, but it makes up for it in terms of simply containing one of Stiller’s most compelling portrayals in quite some time, where he is essentially playing a very familiar archetype, but doing it with an abundance of heart and soul, which is exactly what the film needed. Nutcrackers are also notable for striving for authenticity as far as possible, with the central quartet of siblings that are the catalyst for the chaos of the story all played by real-life brothers (and filmed on their family farm, a wonderful detail that explains how genuine and lived-in this film feels from the very start), and while they had not acted previously, they’re all absolute naturals, having exceptional chemistry with one another and with Stiller, who essentially becomes the foil to their offbeat and mischevious antics, and which are the cornerstone for the film and its many wonderfully engaging observations on the human condition.

To its credit, Nutcrackers does as much as it can to not be viewed as an exclusively bawdy comedy, which was a legitimate concern considering this is directed by the same person who helmed works such as Your Highness and The Sitter, which are popular in their own right, but a far cry from the exceptional work he did earlier in his career. Green seems to be in a place in his career where he is trying to experiment with style and structure, and even when working on something relatively conventional, he is trying many different techniques but mostly keeps this film strictly in the confines of the genre, which is admirable in its way. On the surface, the film seems like it is going to be a very traditional gross-out comedy (not helped by the title, which is impossible to not read as a double entendre), but it proves to have an immense heart that is certainly worth our time. The key to the success of any film centring around these themes is the emotions, which need to be perfectly tempered (to the point where we can argue a good Christmas film can slightly lack in terms of the story if it can effectively look at its emotions), neither being too flippant on the more lighthearted matters, nor too heavy-handed when it comes to looking at the serious subject matter and instead finding the happy medium between them. The film proves to be a lot more complex than we may have expected – the raw emotions are present from the start, and Green employs a slight gritter aesthetic, as well as resisting the urge to play up the physical humour too much and instead prioritizing making every choice meaningful in some way or another. It is the first comedy he has made in nearly a decade (with his most recent offering in the genre being the misguided Our Brand Is Crisis), so his tools definitely needed to be sharpened, but there was nonetheless a lot of promise throughout this film, and Green proves that he still has the skills required to tell a meaningful story that combines heart and humour.

Nutcrackers aims to be a film that stirs the same emotions as something like It’s a Wonderful Life, with the blend of humour and melancholy being fundamental to this film and everything that it represents. However, Green is far from Frank Capra as far as skill or raw humanity goes, so it’s understandable that it doesn’t quite hit the mark, even if it is much better than it could have been based on a cursory glance. The film hits all the familiar notes and does so in exactly the order we’d expect – the structure is predictable and we can anticipate just about every plot turn and twist, right until the final charming moments. Yet, the film still manages to have so much depth and nuance, much more than we would have initially expected, since it isn’t a case of innovation being a priority, but rather consistency, of which this film is certainly a great example of how these qualities, when done correctly, can result in something truly exquisite, even at its most simplistic. Anchored by a triumphant return to the screen for Stiller, supported by a terrific group of promising young actors who are clear naturals, and driven by a sense of both fun and sentimentality, Nutcrackers is a very charming film, and Green once again shows that he has not entirely lost his gifts, and while it is far from the thought-provoking, revolutionary statement that defined his earlier work, the film is nonetheless wickedly entertaining and truly very captivating, delivering exactly what it promises and not much else, which is more than enough for something that endearing.