Love the Coopers (2015) is a fun, delightful holiday film about a family coming together for Christmas dinner. I loved the ensemble cast. I'm a big fan of most of the actors. Marisa Tomei, Diane Keaton, Olivia Wilde, John Goodman, and others all star as members of the Cooper family. They all give very good performances, I especially loved Olivia Wilde's performance. I loved her storyline with her and her man she met on the way to meet her family. The chemistry between the two is electric, I liked the dialogue between the two, it was both funny at times and sweet and touching. And I also liked following the other family members stories and the script allows for the audience to get invested in the characters and see deep into why they are the way they are. I thought that Marisa Tomei and her storyline with the police officer was very interesting and it really gave a look into her character. Keaton and goodman are great together and I loved their story and seeing them go through what they were going through. Overall love the coopers isn't out of this world, but it is a sweet fun way to spend a couple hours, especially over Christmastime. 7/10 for love the coopers.

So many of these movie reviews seem to be from "want-to-be" critics, far more interested in critiquing the movie, than enjoying it. Sometime I feel I may be the only one who watches movies simply to relax and be entertained? This movie was great. I had never heard of it before it popped up on TV. With so many characters being introduced, it seemed a little confusing at first trying to fit them together. Once I caught on to the several subplots going on, it was just really wonderful fun. An adult movie that doesn't rely of car chases, sex and gun fire to entertain. I laughed WITH this family and AT this family. What a hoot. Watch it for pure fun.

The "Holiday Family Dramedy" is sort of a genre unto itself. One could write a similar story, with similar jokes and disappointments set at any other time of year, but somehow setting the tale at Christmas makes it more meaningful. Whether it's nostalgia or hopefulness, something about the holidays adds an extra point of connection between us and the characters.Unfortunately, "Love the Coopers" features a bunch of characters with whom it's very difficult to connect. But for a couple of exceptions, they are all totally unlikable. Forget attempting to relate to them, if you met any of these people in real life you'd go out of your way to avoid being in the same room with them ever again. Given the wonderful cast, it's a real feat of failure that the writer and director turned them into such jerks.I suppose the creators were aiming for a revamped "Love Actually". But, rather than having a troupe of mostly unconnected characters falling in and out of love, what we have here is a bunch of dysfunctional family members all dealing with screwed up relationships. The parents are planning to separate after 40 years of marriage; the newly- unemployed son is struggling to provide for his family while dealing with his shrew of an ex-wife; the free- spirited daughter has had her heart-broken and falls in love in the airport but is too hurt to genuinely connect; the widowed grandfather has developed a kind of creepy paternal bond with a waitress who announces she's leaving town; the black sheep sister is a spinster who likes to shoplift and develops her most powerful connection with the cop who arrests her.No one gets a meaningful backstory. Instead, the writer opts for an expository shortcut by including a rather intrusive narrator, who turns out to be the family dog with Steve Martin's voice. The narration tells us what the characters are feeling and why. The audience is left to take him at his word, since we don't actually get to see any of the moments that brought the characters to this point. As a result of this narrative failure, it's impossible to understand any of the characters' motivations, and it doesn't seem like any of the immensely talented cast knows what they are, either. Is an indefinitely delayed vacation really the cause of the rift between John Goodman and Diane Keaton? Is a longstanding jealousy of her older sister really the root of Marisa Tomei's kleptomania? What is it about Amanda Seyfried that makes Alan Arkin go to a restaurant that he dislikes every single morning just to see her? None of these questions (and more) are ever answered. Instead, we get scene after scene of arguments and belittling, and we wonder why any of them bother. I know you can't choose your family, but if these were my relatives I'd just as soon spend Christmas alone.The best and (somehow) worst of these interlocking stories features Olivia Wilde and relative newcomer Jake Lacy. We are told (by the dog) that Wilde's heart has been broken too often, and now she has up a wall. She is a free-spirited, agnostic Liberal who, naturally, shares an airport bar with a conservative Christian soldier who is about to ship off. They instantly hit it off, despite the fact that she does nothing but demean his faith and politics, while he offers nothing but dumb defenses of his beliefs. Lacy actually does an admirable job of creating a charming, sincere character. But Wilde is so nasty to him that it makes no sense that he would fall for her (other than the fact that she's gorgeous). Their conversation is where the writer obviously felt like he could display his chops, but what he surely thought sounded profound comes off as ridiculous. For instance, Lacy asks what Wilde believes in if not God, and she responds "I believe in Nina Simone's voice". A loud "OH COME ON!" left my mouth before I was able to control it. What is that supposed to mean? Is that what passes for profound? For reasons that are not obvious, the considerate Christian soldier pursues the obnoxious hippy chick even after running into the married man with whom she's been sleeping. It's inexplicable.The title, "Love the Coopers", refers to the salutation the matriarch writes on the family's annual Christmas card. But, because the necessary comma is left off, it becomes a command. We are instructed to love these awful people despite having no legitimate reason to do so. I genuinely cannot think of a single reason you should watch this.

When four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday. When the CBS Logo appears you know that Love The Coopers will suck and it did the film has so many talented people and it's wasted by a stupid simple plot that goes wrong in many ways. Alan Arkin is in love with Amanda Seyfried then Olivia Wilde treats like crap to everyone and then this dumb unfunny kiss scene with John Goodman and Diane Keaton that makes the film even worse. A great cast to a horrible Christmas movie do they even know what humor means anymore?