You might like, but won’t love, the ‘Coopers’

I hate holiday dysfunctional family movies. They’re pretty much all the same. Parents and siblings are in conflict. Husbands and wives hate each other. Brothers dislike sisters. Younger disrespects the older. And you can switch any of those categories. All the cast can agree on is that everyone hates whatever holiday is in focus, but it’s usually Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Diane Keaton and John Goodman are soon-to-divorce parents focused on doing one more Christmas before parting ways. The kids don’t know they’re divorcing. And what the parents don’t know is the kids don’t care. They’re in their own kind of pain.

Ed Helms, Olivia Wilde and Marisa Tomei are their disappointing and disappointed kids. Alan Arkin is grandpa, who has a thing for a young waitress played by Amanda Seyfried. June Squibb (Nebraska) is a ditzy aunt. Anthony Mackie plays a cop who busts Tomei’s character for shoplifting. Jake Lacy (Obvious Child) is a soldier Wilde’s Eleanor picks up in an airport.

Added into the plot are grandkids with a first kiss, shopping and a funny dog.

Love the Coopers is directed by Jessie Nelson, who wrote and directed I Am Sam, and is written by Steven Rogers, who co-wrote Stepmom with Nelson and some others. Unlike most holiday movies, they hook you with superb music and a fabulous soundtrack. Acting and a terrific script have you laughing and interested. Then comes the predictable, disastrous dinner.

It’s barely enough to have me like, but not love, the Coopers.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "You might like, but won’t love, the ‘Coopers’."