Cady's Take:

With Jodie Foster in the director's chair and Holly Hunter in the lead, this is the perfect Holiday movie. After losing her job, Claudia (Hunter) decides to spend a little time with Mom (Anne Bancroft), Dad (Charles Durning), neurotic sister Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson), and black sheep of the family gay brother Tommy (Robert Downing Jr.).

The best parts of this film are the uncanny bits that seem to resemble our very own dysfunctional holiday experiences. It has all the essential family drama, secrets, feeling like an alien within your own family and adult kids suddenly realizing that their parents are getting old. It is common knowledge that while most people love their families, they don't always like them very much, and that's where "Home for the Holiday 's" dark comedy really works.

There are moments that make you shed a tear, such as when Claudia's sister tells her, "If I wasn't related to you and met you on the street, if you gave me your phone number, I'd throw it away." And other scenes that have you laughing hysterically, like Bancroft declaring "Wait 'til you see your father's damned organ. He can't keep his hands off it."

If you're expecting an especially stressful holiday, you might want to wait until after the festivities to see this movie, after all, it's a lot easier to laugh at painful subjects in retrospect.

How can you not love Holly Hunter? She is just so cute! Directed by Jodie Foster, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Hunter, "Home for the Holidays" is charming and funny. Although the family-weary holiday movie has been done and redone, it is always fun to see a great cast get together and rehash some old favorites. Like the gay brother ( Downey ) and his boyfriend, played by Dylan McDermott who I adore. Clare Danes also appears, as well as Steve Guttenberg and Cynthia Stevenson. With so many terrific character actors, it is no wonder we get some terrific characters as well.

What I love about movies like this is that even if you do not have the exact same family problems you still understand the family you are watching, because we all have family problems. You might not have a gay brother, but you might have an obnoxious one. Or one that just bugs you. You might not have a chain-smoking mother, but you might have one who always knows what you are thinking and who finishes your sentences. Not that I know anything about quirky families.

I liked this movie and holiday movies are especially fun to watch around the holidays. I first watched "Love, Actually" in June, but watching it again this holiday season, I loved it even more. I recommend "Home for the Holidays" - grab it for Christmas day, when all of your annoying relatives have left.