For years now, Kentucky Joe (Al Snow) has been living under a bridge with his "family" of hobos - motherly Mary-Ann (Anne-Marie Olsen), Santa Claus impersonator Santa (Timothy Pogue) and his "elf" Jack (Billy Crank), dementia-ridden Rose (Kathrine Horgan), catless catlady Kitty (Loretta Chambers), wild animal collector Tiger (John Potash) and 17 year old Samantha (Breashae Crum) -, and even if they've never had much, they've always had one another. And then an expensive car comes to a standstill right under their bridge, its driver, local rich man Winston (Darren Lee Cupp) apparently dead but strapped with cash. So Joe and his gang come up with a plan, to use the money to dress themselves in fancy clothes, then pay a visit to Winston's mansion and pretend to be his long lost family he has invited to stay over Christmas - really just a harmless prank to get out of the cold at least for Christmas. However, once they arrive at Winstton's place, they find not everything is perfect: Their "host"'s brother Geoffrey (Douglas Vermeeren) turns out to be an alcoholic who's neglecting his daughter Ginger (Anah Marie Harrison), Winston's right hand woman Ruth (Lori Shepherd) wants to take over his company behind his back, his chef (Juan Szilagyi) is eternally bitter for having given up his daughter for adoption decades ago, his washerwoman (Damaris Isales) is sleeping in a camper van on the premises with her daughter (Adaline Volpe) because she can't afford an apartment, and the chiefs of service (John Wells, Pippa Blackmore) are a snotty couple that let everyone else in the house feel their superiority. Somehow, Joe and company are still invited in, and it seems their radically perspective is just what this disfunctional household needs as they mix everything up massively. Then though it's learned Winston hasn't died behind the wheel after all ...

Now sure, this is a Christmas movie, so a sugary happy ending is pretty much a given, as is a lack of actual risktaking when it comes to storytelling - in other words, prepare for a slight overload of wholesomeness and ultimately too simple answers to complex issues. But within this confines, Home-less for the Holidays does actually pretty well, it's full of colourful characters, with some being the necessary caricatures while others being well-fleshed out, the cast clearly have a lot of fun bringing them to life, and the humour at times borders the anarchic, reminiscent of classic slapstick comedies. No masterpiece perhaps, but pretty good entertainment nevertheless.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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