VIDEO: the trailer for Nothing Like the Holidays
Alfredo De Villa's uneven regifting of Home for the Holidays wraps up a Latin family Christmas in familiar paper and bows. Things start out jolly enough when Jesse (Freddy Rodríguez) returns home from Iraq, but soon after, his mother (Elizabeth Peña) announces she's divorcing his father (Alfred Molina). From there, dysfunctional eruptions flicker like tree lights, with Jesse running into the girl he left behind, her new boyfriend, and an infant son who may or may not be his. Then there's Jesse's yuppie brother, Mauricio (John Leguizamo), who's married a tall red-headed Jew (Debra Messing); when they're pressed about when they might be having children, foppish old Uncle Johnny (Luis Guzmán) brands the potential kids-to-be "Sorta-Ricans." But even when you pile on the salsa, a fruitcake's still a fruitcake.