A family get-together in the middle of nowhere in stinking hot weather, with bonbons and pavlova and a car out front attached to a trailer – yep, this is a bloody ’Strayan Christmas movie.
Expect gentle giggles rather than guffaws from Stan’s yuletide offering from the director Stef Smith and the writer Tegan Higginbotham: an upbeat Chrissy-gone-wrong dramedy that works best in a modest key, hinged on interpersonal dynamics and situational humour, rather than the poignantly and powerfully atmospheric work it longs to be and falls well short of.
The film begins with a montage of domestic festive season images – a gingerbread house, a wall calendar with days crossed off, presents lying around – accompanied by Clive Smith’s hideous song It’s Christmas in Australia (And I Am Upside Down). This ear-bleeding sensory assault suggests a film that might be loud, incongruous and kitschy, perhaps belonging to the same soiled stocking as the 1998 comedy Crackers, which features a dog being burnt to a crisp by an exploding barbecue and dialogue such as, “You’ve got a face like a slapped arse.”
But Jones Family Christmas is a nicer, tamer, ultimately sentimental affair, led cast-wise by a likable and softly charismatic performance from Heather Mitchell (recently on screens in Love Me) as the Jones family matriarch, Heather. When we meet her she has busy preparing for the gathering while her husband, Brian (Neil Melville), acts a bit scatty, and one of their daughters, Alex (Max McKenna), is storming about the house, upset about a breakup.
Heather and Brian’s older daughter, Christina (Ella Scott Lynch), arrives from England with her young son William (Anay Gadre) and toff lawyer husband, Mishan (Dushan Philips). Mishan is unaccustomed to life in the back of beyond, with its sweltering heat, deadly critters and dunnies containing smells destined to outlast religion (to paraphrase Australia’s great porta-john poet). When Heather’s son, Danny (Nicholas Denton), arrives, it is revealed that he doesn’t know that his girlfriend Flick (Tahlee Fereday) was recently Alex’s girlfriend. Things are headed towards some kind of confrontation – or at least some spicy conversation around the dinner table.
The first act resembles a chamber piece, assembling characters into a single setting and teasing out their backstories and personalities. I appreciated the mustard-ish colour palette, which suits the feeling that these people are a bit bothered and off their game – not frazzled, but getting there. I like the energy of these early scenes too: it’s clear both Smith (who helmed last year’s funny and bittersweet SBS series It’s Fine, I’m Fine) and Higginbotham resolved to give it verve and vroom, with dialogue that’s quite rigorously written and performed with an upbeat tempo.
There are multiple references to the possibility of an incoming bushfire, sounding conspicuously like narratively important information. So it comes as no surprise when a warning arrives and the family decide to evacuate. Here the story, even the film itself, becomes unsettled, losing the consistency of its setting and whisking us elsewhere. There’s a feeling we are to some extent starting again: new circumstances, different locations and some additional characters, none of whom are particularly interesting or developed.
Mishan’s “holiday from hell” scenario is probably the most enjoyable tangent, though it’s relegated to the peripheries as the meatier stuff muscles in and the smell of cheese becomes more pronounced. When a random small-town community book club is introduced, discussing the ins and outs of Pride and Prejudice – one enthusiast noting how the plight of Mr Darcy and co teaches us how “we’re all capable of positive growth” – geez, you can feel the film floundering. Smith and Higginbotham are determined to maintain a lighthearted spirit while cranking up the drama’s volume and intensity.
That requires a tricky balance at the best of times. Here, when one character proclaims that “the fires are getting closer”, the line lands with nary a hint of dread. That doesn’t bode well for the last act, which at one point solicited from me an audible groan, the characters inevitably realising What Truly Matters and sharing a group hug.
For better examples of bushfire-themed drama, check out the anthology series Fires. And for a superior festive season comedy – also on Stan – tee up the delightful A Sunburnt Christmas.
• Jones Family Christmas is screening on Stan in Australia
