Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett co-star in Todd Haynes’ 2015 film “Carol.”
Are you one of those seasonal softies who likes nothing better than whipping up some eggnog, grabbing a couple of comfy blankets, and settling in for a merry marathon of Hallmark Christmas movies?
Well, this story is for the rest of us.
Honestly, I love the season. In fact, it’s my favorite — just ahead of Halloween, for what that’s worth. But when it comes to holiday films, I like them the way I like my Hollywood romances — a little unexpected, a little twisted, a little bittersweet.
And that’s what I was looking for when I drew up this list — alternative programming for those chilly December evenings when you may feel like something not only beyond the usual classics but just a bit darker. Films where the families squabble and the food is overcooked. Where not everybody gets everything they wanted. Where nothing, not even the main character’s survival, is guaranteed.
And yet where things still conclude on a small note of hope.
The fact that most of these 13 movies (listed in alphabetical order) ended up having Jersey connections, by the way, wasn’t planned. Put it down to pure happenstance. Or maybe not. After all, what’s a holiday without a little attitude?
So, go ahead — have yourself a wary little Christmas.
Sally Hawkins and Paul Giamatti in “All Is Bright.”
“All Is Bright” (2013): Garbage burning in an open fire, frostbite threatening your nose Yes, here’s a Christmas movie to truly delight the Scrooge in you, a dark comedy about two poor, desperate, feuding French-Canadians trying to unload a truckload of fir trees in Brooklyn. A nice change-of-pace part for Passaic’s Paul Rudd partners a perfectly-in-his-wheelhouse one for Paul Giamatti.
“The Baltimorons” (2025): One of the smaller, but more welcome, surprises of the year, this low-budget comedy-drama from Jay Duplass takes a few ingredients — a 30-ish loser with a broken tooth, a lonely 50-something dentist, the less-travelled roads of Charm City — and mixes them into a tart but tasty film. It starts slow, but give it time. Like its quarrelsome characters, it will grow on you.
“Carol” (2015): Imagine a 1950s romance in which a suburban Grace Kelly goes Christmas shopping, falls for the salesgirl and … well, you probably can’t. But director Todd Haynes did, in this fine adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt.” Cate Blanchett is icily perfect as an unhappy New Jersey matron, Rooney Mara is quietly enigmatic as her young lover, and the ending is just right.
“The Curse of the Cat People” (1944): Christmas ghost stories are a fine old British tradition; here is a gentle and fully American tale that can stand beside them, as the loneliness of a little girl somehow conjures up the loving spirit of her stern father’s first, and long-dead, wife. Ignore the studio-imposed title — the filmmakers certainly did — and enjoy this typically smart film from Val Lewton and Robert Wise.
Clockwise from top left, Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly, Kevin Bacon and Daniel Stern in “Diner.”
“Diner” (1982): People tend to remember this home-for-Christmas bromance for its collection of great young actors and their rowdy antics (like the infamous box-of-popcorn gag). But look deeper and you’ll see the sadness of missed opportunities — the stunted lives of Kevin Bacon and Mickey Rourke, the shaky marriage of Ellen Barkin and Daniel Stern. And then there’s that final shot …
“Eyes Wide Shut” (1999): The simplest synopsis — everyone wants to have sex with Tom Cruise, and it terrifies him — hints at how odd this Stanley Kubrick film can be. But this, his last movie, set in a yuletide Manhattan filled with enigmatic characters and glittering images, is fascinating — not least because the Glen Ridge icon’s unhappy wife is played by a never-sexier Nicole Kidman, one year before they split.
“The Family Man” (2000): In this twist on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a Wall Street exec gets a glimpse of what it would have been like if he’d married his college sweetheart and — horrors! — settled for a house in Teaneck and a job selling tires. The Jersey-bashing is annoying, and Nicolas Cage typically goes over the top, but Téa Leoni is so winning that pushing radials in Bergen County suddenly sounds like a sweet gig.
Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker in “The Family Stone.”
“The Family Stone” (2005): What might have been a safely rambunctious home-for-Christmas comedy actually has some sharp edges — one character is battling cancer, and the way the family gangs up on prissy fiancée Sarah Jessica Parker is practically sadistic. (That’s not a criticism.) Extra points for casting mean girl Rachel McAdams as the sardonic kid sister, and the shout-out to “Meet Me in St. Louis.”
“Gremlins” (1984): It would be easy to fill this list with holiday horrors, if Santa-as-a-slasher is your thing. Far better is this blackly comic fantasy from Morristown’s Joe Dante, which would be a classic even if it had nothing but Phoebe Cates’ monologue on the Worst Christmas Ever. Includes some favorite B-movie veterans and a number of gory demises (with death-by-microwave a standout).
“The Holdovers” (2023): Good grief, Mr. Chips. A veteran prep school teacher who is anything but beloved finds himself spending Christmas break with an unpopular boy whose family doesn’t want him either — yet each misfit finds himself warming to the other, just a little. Sour star Paul Giamatti is superb, as is South Jersey’s young Dominic Sessa and Alexander Payne’s assured and detailed direction.
Gary Cooper in “Meet John Doe.”
“Meet John Doe” (1941): No disrespect ever intended to director Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a tradition in our house. But if you want less Capra-corn, more wounded sentiment, turn to this alternate fable, in which a Christ-like drifter is exploited by politicians and the media, then turned on by the masses who once adored him. There is a happy ending, but I don’t think even the actors believed it.
“Prancer” (1989): Choosing a kiddie Christmas movie that isn’t cloyingly sweet can be a challenge. But this film — about a girl who is sure she has found one of Santa’s reindeer — meets it, thanks to its casting. Star Rebecca Harrell comes across as a real kid, and as her bitter dad, Sam Elliott seems to be in a different, even darker film. There is a cutesy ending, true, but the film makes you work for it.
“Stepmom” (1998): Another cancer-for-Christmas movie, and one in which director Chris Columbus often clumsily switch-hits between moods (with way too many sing-along-with-Motown sequences). But while star Julia Roberts often coasts on big Bambi eyes and movie-star charm as the title character, Jersey natives Ed Harris and Susan Sarandon deliver performances rooted in truly awkward, conflicting and eternally unresolved emotions. And isn’t that what the holidays are often all about?
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