Episode 87: Home for the Holidays

Welcome to Home for the Holidays, where Jodie Foster directs a 1995 Thanksgiving drama that raises conflicts and resolves... well, almost none of them. Holly Hunter mumbles her way through a holiday weekend with Robert Downey Jr. (in his heroin phase), Dylan McDermott, and Anne Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson herself). This is cinema that asks "what if nothing really happened?" and got a surprisingly stacked cast to go along with it.

What You're Getting Into: Claudia (Holly Hunter) gets fired from her museum restoration job, immediately makes out with her elderly boss, then flies home for Thanksgiving. Her daughter Kit (Claire Danes) announces she's about to lose her virginity, her free-spirited brother Tommy (RDJ) shows up with his "friend" Leo Fish (Dylan McDermott), her uptight sister Joanne resents being the responsible one, and her parents engage in quiet desperation disguised as marriage. Nothing gets resolved, everyone goes home. Roll credits.

Peak Dumpster Moments:

• Opening with seductive egg yolk handling during art restoration that looks way more sexual than it should
• Claudia's mystery cold that serves absolutely no narrative purpose and is never explained
• Tommy taking Polaroids of his adult sister in her underwear - twice - which is just weird on every level
• The turkey flying off the platter onto Joanne's lap, followed by Leo and Claudia intentionally spilling all the juices on her dress
• Aunt Gladys's unhinged monologue about kissing the dad back in 1952, leaving everyone at the table mortified
• The "food and making out" scene where Leo and Claudia get intimate with turkey sandwiches and cranberries in the dark - which awakens something in Liz about incorporating food into playtime
• Tommy casually outing himself as having been married to Jack for three months, which no one knew about

The Baltimore Deep Dive: Scott provides extensive commentary on the Baltimore filming locations throughout, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, BWI Airport (with its red pillars), Memorial Stadium in the background of the parade scene, Moravia Road, Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery, and even finding the actual house on Google Maps.

The One Good Scene: The dad watching old home videos in the basement and telling Claudia about taking her to watch planes take off when she was little. He talks about looking at old footage and not recognizing himself, saying "that wasn't me at all, that was some other guy." This moment resonates deeply and leads to a philosophical discussion about aging, nostalgia, and feeling disconnected from your past self. It's the only emotionally genuine moment in the entire film.

The Thanksgiving Food Debate: Extensive discussion of optimal Thanksgiving dishes including the great stuffing divide (in-the-bird soggy vs. prepared separately), whether you need turkey for it to truly be Thanksgiving, scalloped vs. au gratin potatoes, Scott's sobriety streak facing its biggest test, Popeyes' $99 pre-cooked Cajun turkey, sous vide turkey taking 8-12 hours (or days for short ribs), and the optimal plate-loading strategy. First things on the plate: Scott goes for turkey, Liz goes for in-the-bird stuffing with gravy.

The Verdict: Is this a profound meditation on family dysfunction or just a movie that chickened out of having anything meaningful to say? The film wants credit for being "realistic" about messy families but really it's just conflict-averse. The dad's scenes save it from being completely aimless, but otherwise it's a vignette pretending to be a movie. As Scott puts it: unresolved conflict is the entire point, which feels less like an artistic choice and more like the film just gave up.

Coming Up Next: Back to Oxford (for the third time!) with My Oxford Year starring Sofia Carson. Another ambitious American woman finding love at a prestigious British university because Netflix apparently has a template for these.

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