Christmas with the Coopers (2 Stars)

This is the story of a large dysfunctional family that's meeting for Christmas. There aren't any happy marriages in the four generations that come together. Some are divorced, some intend to get divorced, some are single. The only one who's truly happy is Rags the dog.

As a series of vignettes it's acceptable. Different tales are being told in parallel. Some are more interesting than others, The trouble is that as soon as we start to feel for a character the film switches to someone else that we don't like.

The film sums up everything I hate about Christmas. Once a year people sit down together who either don't like one another or hardly know one another, but they're all expected to smile and get along.

All the mini-stories in the film resolve themselves into happy endings. That's what we expect from a Christmas film, isn't it? But if there's a sequel next year, "Christmas with the Coopers 2", everyone will be unhappy again at the start of the celebrations. Nothing lasts.

P. S. In America the film is called "Love the Coopers".