There is nothing redeeming about this half-hearted drivel. This is absolute garbage that fails to live up to even the lowest of low expectations.

| Jan 4, 2025

A delightful, fairly anarchic comedy in the spirit of under-rated ‘80s tales Uncle Buck or Mr. Mom.

| Jan 1, 2025

You can sense what the movie is shooting for and you can imagine ways that it might have worked. But the lack of originality, the overreliance on a tired formula, and the uninspired humor keeps the movie from ever earning our investment.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 26, 2024

David Gordon Green directs with a measured touch that allows the gang's relationship to evolve with some naturalism.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 21, 2024

Nutcrackers is effective as a cinematographic proposal, it follows the expected family formula, although without offering any new perspective on the theme. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 20, 2024

It’s sweet, a little unusual, and there’s just enough of an indie film vibe to understand why Stiller and Cardellini signed on.

| Dec 19, 2024

There’s a surprising amount of heart in this holiday release featuring Ben Stiller and director David Gordon Green.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Dec 13, 2024

Not much funny happens here, and the film doesn't even remember to put Stiller in put-upon suitor mode, which is what he's best at.

| Dec 12, 2024

What Green adds to familiar material is a sense of genuine wildness—and, at times, eerie ritual. He recognizes something tribal about the raising of close siblings, and their near-feral nature adds jolts of humor and, eventually, heartbreak.

| Original Score: B | Dec 12, 2024

It’s not really a family film, at least not for many families — the home-school lesson tells you why — but it’s not really a grown-up comedy either. It hovers in an uncanny valley, and the tonal swing is unpleasant.

| Dec 9, 2024

It takes a while, but this family dramedy with endearing characters finds its rhythm midway through the story and builds to a fairly predictable but enormously gratifying ending.

| Dec 9, 2024

A sweet and endearing family holiday comedy

| Dec 7, 2024

Nutcrackers might sound formulaic, but it feels a bit indie, thanks to a loose, lo-fi, purposely aimless narrative and some oddball direction by David Gordon Green.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2024

Despite failing to ever truly impress either in its comedic gags or bids at zaniness, Nutcrackers does tickle a nostalgic pleasure center when it is at its best, giving viewers a lightly entertaining bit of holiday viewing.

| Dec 6, 2024

We get what feels more like a slice-of-life drama that’s only slightly heightened at times for some humor.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 6, 2024

While the story itself isn’t unique, the charm of the characters mixed with the relatable humor and touching conversations make for an enjoyable holiday watch.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 5, 2024

Nutcrackers finds plenty of heartwarming comedy that emerges from the characters and their interactions, and is noticeably free of try-hard stabs at big, broad laughs.

| Dec 4, 2024

Stiller has become a deeper actor with age, and he's perfect here: you know he has a good soul, because this is a comedy, and not a dark one, but he keeps you guessing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 2, 2024

Director David Gordon Green, known mostly for his horror movie sequels, seems an odd choice to helm a heartfelt holiday movie, but his instinctive edginess ably navigates the sentiment-versus-mayhem tightrope walk created by writer Leland Douglas.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 1, 2024

Hard to get on board with a relatively worn plot like this when the protagonist feels like an AI version of the typical Ben Stiller character and a script that should have been repurposed to fit the climax that now arrives like a complete afterthought.

| Original Score: 2.4 | Dec 1, 2024