This movie was a complete letdown. First off, it's hard to even understand what the film was trying to accomplish. The kids in the story were insufferable obnoxious and hard to like (credit to the actors, not a criticism of them personally). Meanwhile, Ben Stiller's character started off as reasonable: he had a job with an important deadline, and he was helping his sister, who had thrown her life away. Despite that promising start, the plot went nowhere.
The pacing was terrible, with long, unnecessary scenes of kids jumping and running. It felt forced and strange, like the filmmakers had no idea what they wanted the movie to be. It wasn't a comedy, a Christmas movie, or even a heartfelt drama. It was just... nothing. Boring from start to finish.
To make matters worse, the premise a typical "adult is left to take care of unruly kids" story didn't deliver anything fresh or meaningful. The kids were unbearable, and the narrative dragged without any real payoff. I can't think of a single redeeming quality.
I would have given it a 1-star rating, but I'll settle on 2 just to avoid seeming overly harsh. That said, it's still the worst movie I've seen all year. Save yourself the time and skip this one.
