From the opening of Oh. What. Fun., director/writer Michael Showalter and his co-writer Chandler Baker very much express both the importance of mothers during the festive season and how, in the realms of cinematic ventures, they’re an under valued character. As the film’s loving focal point, Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer, always a treat to see back in the filmic space), points out over a witty voice-over, it’s the men during Christmas-themed comedies that get all the glory, despite the fact that they are so often the ones causing trouble (see Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Jingle All The Way for prime examples). What do the women get? The wives and girlfriends who are often at home actually forming the ingredients necessary for an enjoyable Christmas? “89 seconds of screentime”, Pfeiffer so bitingly comments with her character’s Texan drawl.
And it’s that hint of bitterness that her Claire is carrying into this holiday season specifically. She loves her husband, Nick (Denis Leary), even if he’s a little oblivious, and her three grown children – married Channing (Felicity Jones), relationship-hopper Taylor (Chloe Grace Moretz), and recently dumped Sammy (Dominic Sessa) – but she wants just a moment of recognition, which is something she has been hinting at in however many messages she has sent to her brood about an upcoming televised holiday contest celebrating the specialness of mothers; she can say it’s not about the contest all she wants, but we know the subtext is there.
Between feeling like she’s overstepped in spoiling Channing’s children with their present and coming up second best to her across-the-street neighbour – the perfectly tailored Jeanne Wang-Wasserman (Joan Chen) – Claire’s not feeling the Christmas spirit in her own home, and when the family all take off to a holiday concert without her, it pushes her over the edge. Christmas is cancelled, as far as Claire is concerned, and, in finally putting herself first, she heads off to the one place she’s wanted to be the entire time – the television studio for the Zazzy Tims show, where the aforementioned contest is taking place; Eva Longoria providing amusing support as the eponymous host who takes quite a liking to Claire’s brazen act.
Whilst Oh. What. Fun. is a particularly simple film and the stakes never feel overly dramatic, Showalter easily laces the film with a classic Christmas comedy mentality, in that it very much feels an outing of any era and has an air of annual revisits. When Claire is off on her light adventure (which briefly introduces a fun, if underused Danielle Brooks as a courier driver), the hijinks at home are relatively tame in comparison to what other seasonal laughers have delivered, but it at least allows the impressively stacked ensemble cast to flex their comedic muscles; there’s a particularly fun dynamic between Taylor and Channing’s people-pleasing husband, Doug (Jason Schwartzman), who wants so desperately for her to like him, which only irks her further in recognising such hopelessness.
At 100 minutes, Oh. What. Fun. doesn’t overstay its welcome and it all travels where you expect it to, but with its warm message of truly appreciating your mother at this time of year (or, really, any parent that goes to the kind of work you might not always notice) it manages to create enough of a personality for itself to distinguish itself within the subsect of the festive comedy genre. Ultimately, this is the gift that keeps on giving in that it serves as a reminder of how truly, naturally luminous Pfeiffer is on screen. There’s an ease to her comedic delivery, a heartbreaking truth to her dramatic inclinations, and a warmth in her general presence; a mother we all want to give the perfect Christmas to.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Oh. What. Fun. is available to stream on Prime Video from December 3rd, 2025.
