Surviving Christmas (2004)

Surviving Christmas parents guide

Some innuendo or implied sex and some strong language, about what a PG-13 should carry.

Our estimate: fine from about 13. Rated PG-13.

Scare

Not scary

Jump scares

None noted

Gore

No gore

Violence

No real violence

Sex and nudity

Mild

Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.

Language

Moderate

Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Surviving Christmas about?

A wealthy executive, Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) has no close relationships and becomes nostalgic for his childhood home as Christmas approaches. When he visits the house and finds another family living there, he offers the residents, Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Christine (Catherine O'Hara), a large sum of money to pretend they are his parents. Soon Drew tests the couple's patience, and, when their daughter, Alicia (Christina Applegate), arrives, things get increasingly tense.

Cast and crew

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Surviving Christmas is on our Christmas and Romance on Hoopla lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “funny but not stupid, under two hours”
• “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”
• “a movie that will make me cry”

Lists with the same feel: Feel-good and Cozy.