Nutcrackers Film Review: Heart Over Head

Ben Stiller stars in Nutcrackers, an irreverent fish-out-of-water comedy whose awkwardly contrived plot is overcome by some enchanting performances.

After this broadly unpopular detour, Nutcrackers is a reversion to type and a tentative return to form.

Ben Stiller stars as Michael (not Mike, as he insists), a Chicago-based real estate professional who expects to look after the four sons of his late sister for just a weekend when he arrives at their rural home. The children’s social worker (Linda Cardellini) swiftly dispels that illusion, informing him that until they find some suitable new guardians, he is officially upgraded from uncle to foster parent. Owing to previous family drama, Michael barely knows the kids, whose feral antics and brutal honesty make for a sobering experience for the haughty city boy.

The film combines two familiar premises: fish-out-of-water comedy tropes that hark back to City Slickers and Local Hero, and an exploration of childhood grief like that depicted in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Predictably, Michael starts to come around to the idea of looking after his nephews, and the five of them embark on a shared journey of growth and healing; his relationship with the oldest child Justice (Homer Janson), grappling with his first romantic feelings and all the other trappings of teenagehood, is particularly moving.

The action takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas, a time of joy among family for many but one of severe loneliness for others, including some of those without parents like our young characters. Whether or not Nutcrackers can be defined as a ‘Christmas movie’ is one for the scholars to decide, fitting really, as much of the chidrens’ antics resemble a low-budget Die Hard, but it does share a shamelessly schmaltzy tendency that films of that genre manage to get away with. Despite a couple of instances of rather adult, not to mention tonally incongruous, language suggesting an older audience in mind, the balance of light and shade should be to most families’ tastes.

While the film’s humour becomes a little stale after a while, it consists almost entirely of fart jokes and slapstick, it is buoyed by the performances of its cast. Stiller is a dab hand at working with kids, still displaying that lively physicality that defines his best performances as he approaches 60. Cardellini is strong in the film’s main female role, one that refreshingly avoids a romantic angle, and the four Janson children are an utter delight. Not only do they have the confidence and charisma to pull off their characters’ personalities, but when required, such as in the film’s final act when we see them perform their own unique take on the Nutcracker ballet, they are capable of displaying a much-needed gracefulness. It is also during this scene that we see Green’s visual instincts come to life, in an otherwise tame work designed and edited for the most mainstream of audiences.

Its plot barely hangs together and its themes don’t come close to a satisfying resolution, but somehow Nutcrackers feels like more than the sum of its parts. The evident connection between its adult and child stars is what gets the thing over the line, and for all its flaws the film oozes warmth and compassion. At Christmas time, that can go a long way.

Nutcrackers was screened at TIFF on September 6, 2024. Read our list of films to watch at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival!