Others say...

"A cute movie, but not much else."
The plot to movie leads one to believe that Deck the Halls is as droll a Christmas movie as they come....but not so fast, there are some really funny scenes in the movie and hopefully by the end of my review you might decide to make this movie a rental.

Buddy Hall (Danny DeVito) moves in like a meth lab next to Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick). From the beginning the Napoleonic complex that Buddy has is apparent and upon doing a search on the Internet to see his house from space (and discovering it's not visible) sets out to build the grandest light display in the history of man. There is one problem, however. Mr. Christmas (Steve Finch) notices that his neighbor's light display grows larger each day and has become a public nuisance. So, taking the law into his own hands, Steve, attempts to sabotage his neighbor.....his plans not only backfire, but now a war between the two neighbors ensues.

The film does fail to capitalize on developing either character which leaves the viewer with a sense of unsatisfaction. The best part of the movie happens when the two feuding neighbors attempt a truce and remember the true meaning of Christmas.....nearly an hour into the film. So, have you decided to give it a view? If not, you're not missing much.

"Awful"
Its October and Halloween has not passed, yet everyone seems to be getting ready for Christmas. My mother bought this film and i've never watched it, so I picked it up and watched it. Oh my god, what a piece of crap! The story is beyond stupid and the acting was bad. I stopped this film halfway thru and downloaded Frank Sinatra's A Jolly Christmas instead. Avoid this movie if you want to have a Merry Christmas.

"Terrible Movie"
This could very well be the worst movie I have ever seen. Every gag is predictable, boring and unfunny. I can't believe two performers the caliber of Broderick and DeVito allowed themselves to become involved in this horrible mess. Yeeeeccch!

"This is harder than watching White Christmas!!"
Christmas movies are either very good, or very bad. Deck the Halls falls into the latter. When Danny DeVito is on the television show 'The View' and expresses how much he hates this movie, you know you are in for a stinker.

I never considered Matthew Broderick to be much of an actor. Nothing against the guy, I was just never a fan. His character is a conservative, nerdy optometrist who deems himself 'The Christmas Guy'. He is very much into traditions, much to his family's pain.

So in comes 'Buddy' played by Danny DeVito. He gets it into his head that he wants a house that can be viewed from space. That's it. That is the only reason the plot moves forward and it is absurd. His hot twin daughters showed him an internet site which shows people's houses from space and his house cannot be seen. If you had a wife that looked like that would you really care?? But this is supposed to be a sappy Christmas story, so here we go.

Matthew and Danny's characters begin to hate each other. Buddy does his house lights that would have made Clark W. Griswald green with envy. He also has a living manger complete with live cows, sheep, and a camel. Matthew is jealous and can't get any sleep at night, so he attempts to sabotage Buddy's electrical system, of course not only does Buddy have a large, noisy portable generator, he's stealing power from his own house to run his insane light show. The final straw comes when Dr. Finch tries to assault Buddy's house with illegal fireworks. The idiot can't even do that right.

Of course the wives get tired of all the foolishness and go to a hotel for the holidays. Buddy and the good Doctor Finch decide to make up, bury the hatchet, and set things right with the wives. This is where it gets even more ridiculous than even I could have imagined.

First off, they decorate the hotel with lights, and have huge Christmas light displays decorating a path back to the house. The town has become a ghost town at this point, the lights do not interfere with traffic, and there is NOBODY else to be seen anywhere. Then they get back to the house
and see that the two husbands have set up a lavish Christmas dinner. This is all very well and good, but come to find out they never eat it and I suppose everything goes bad. They do not eat it because no MTV is at Buddy's house wanting to do a story on the loser who wants his house seen from space.

But of course now he has no lights on his house because he used them all to decorate a five mile path from the house to the hotel (I imagine that must have been wrecked when MTV News crews and the entire town show up all at once outside Buddy's door by the way). So ala 'It's a Wonderful Life', everyone donates lights to Buddy so he can redecorate his house. Boo hoo hoo.

This is a terrible terrible terrible movie.

"HORROR!"
If I could give this movie no stars, I would! Bad, lame, boring, cheap and annoying! Deck the Halls is possibly the worst Christmas movie I have ever seen in my entire life! It was boring, and had no point or story line! Dont waste your time snuggling in front of the fire watching this junk!