Review: "Oh. What. Fun."
Sunday, December 14, 2025 at 10:00AM by Nathaniel R
La Pfeiffer is finally back in "OH. WHAT. FUN" streaming on Amazon Prime.
We love an accurate movie title. Michael Showalter's latest comedy Oh. What Fun. presents a quandary. Is the title true or false? While we generally hope for "fun" at comedies, the staccato cadence of those periods implies a sarcastic tone or eye roll; this woman Claire Clauster (played by the long-missing Michelle Pfeiffer) and her family (assorted SAG members cashing a check) are not having any fun! This general tonal conceit, deployed in all sorts of holiday comedies, is that we are meant to laugh at and relate to people who are experiencing the universal misery of forced holiday cheer and durationally challenging "quality time" with family. We've presumably all been there even if we actually love both the holidays and our family...
The Clauster family in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
Alas, relatability takes a quick beating. Who even are these people? How are the Clausters both vaguely liberal and congenially conservative simultaneously in this hotly divided country? And in Texas, too. Why do all their jobs / personal lives feel so implausible? Oh. What. Fun. never manages to find its footing while trying to be earnest, sarcastic, and funny as it hammers home its "Appreciate your moms!" message and scrambles for ways to appeal to any demographic that might tune in (just in case!) or trigger any algorithm that could be triggered.
Oh but the set up is interminable. Introductions to each member of the Clauster family (Pfeiffer, Denis Leary, Chloë Grace Moretz, Felicity Jones, Dominic Sessa, etc...), their significant others (Jason Schwartzman, Maude Apatow, Devery Jacobs) and neighbors (Joan Chen & screen family...) stretch on for a full 15 minutes. The next 30 are all about laying enormous breadcrumbs down to find future jokes and the plot itself which is such a climb away it must be a fifth floor walk-up. All of this would have been dispatched with simple multi-tasking in maybe 20 minutes in pre-streaming era films. The inciting incident that will kick off the actual plot -- Claire's family accidentally leaving her Home Alone (get it?) to attend an event that she planned -- doesn't arrive until the 44 minute mark -- no exaggeration! As with too many contemporary filmmakers, Showalter appears to have either never considered the dangerous combo of short-attention spans & remote controls, or has no desire to push the film away from inoffensive holiday screen-saver mode. Feel free to ignore us and look at your phones - we will still be here for you in the background! Why is the prologue (act one if you're being generous) played out in something like real time? Claire from 5 to 7... Tune in for the plot at 8!
A fun scene with Joan Chen is interrupted when La Pfeiffer realizes she's been left behind in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard."
-Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn on his deathbed.
What can be done when a comedy just isn't funny? Few of the cast members manage to generate laughs from their character sketches though most of them can intermittently be seen trying. The performances from Emmy & Oscar nominees alike are lazy or uninspired enough to be broad and dull simultaneously. Broad is actually swell for comic hijinx but Showalter and Pfeiffer herself never quite embrace it enough to generate zany momentum or slapstick laughs. The instinct is there if not the pacing and commitment; a couple of sequences do threaten to up the fun ante -- Claire shoplifting a gift to one-up her neighbor (Joan Chen, sly & fully innocent!), Claire asleep in her car realizing she's being towed, Claire going viral for dancing/swearing on live TV.
Fun was had... by who exactly? The movie suggests that the audience watching "The Zazzy Tims Show" live on Christmas day is having some. But, as with those unimpressed periods in the title, we soon learn that Zazzy herself (Eva Longoria, entirely game, deployed too late) is also forcing the cheer. To be fair I did have fun once or twice during the movie. Joan torturing Claire over her obvious lies comes to mind... and there's a charming date sequence between Dominic Sessa & Havana Rose Liu which Showalter and team cut away from just as its becoming affecting.
Or perhaps I had memories of "Pfun"; As a general cinematic rule, the redder her sleepless eyes or the wilder and more dishevelled her hair gets, the better La Pfeiffer's performances and surrounding Pfilms become. Alas, Oh. What. Fun. pulls back every single time it approaches any dangerous emotion, giddy silliness, or cliff-edge abandon, retreating to twangy 'Everything will be OK' pandering. It's afraid to ask for our undivided attention as we wrap gifts, prepare dinner, or chat with loved ones on the other side of the screen. D+
Pfeiffer goes viral (as well she should) in "OH. WHAT. FUN"
Post Script.
"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.”
- Sonja, Love & Death
One of the mysteries of my life is why I feel such intense and enduring love for a screen goddess all infinitely out of proportion with how much she'd like to be obsessed over (i.e. not one bit) and the amount of time she likes to spend in front of cameras (i.e. very little) and the frequency with which she'd like to be challenged or energized by material/director/genre when she does deign to appear (every third project or so).
"Maybe I'm tired of being someone's chick!
-Stephanie Zinone, Grease 2
Until next time since I'll always be there for her...
-A Pfan
Reader Comments (16)
For a Christmas viewing of a Pfeiffer film, I’d recommend A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where Pfeiffer plays Shakespeare’s fairy queen Titania. Although some people scoffed when she was cast, she did a great job, working with Kevin Kline as Bottom and Rupert Everett as the fairy king Oberon.
This film is beautiful, sumptuous, with fabulous production design, wonderful casting, and thoughtful interpretations. Stanley Tucci as Puck, with his little satyr Pan horns. Kevin Kline giving an illuminating interpretation of Bottom, the First Fairy’s interminable speech given as a drunk boasting in a fairy dive bar, and the “rude mechanicals” like actual friends, thoughtful with each other, rather than a condescending portrayal of the “working class”.
I don’t understand either, why such a special actress as Michelle Pfeiffer can’t have better material. I had hoped Oh.What.Fun. would be fun.
My. Oh. My.
Who on earth is making Michelle Pfeiffer's movie decisions?
This is the sort TV movie that maybe a washed-up soap star would sign on to. (Think Heather Locklear or the like)
I'd honestly rather her retire and leave behind a legacy of great projects in her heyday than to churn out garbage like this.
She's so much better than this. Where is her "Tár" or "The Substance" ???
A project like Tár fits nicely into Blanchett's career trajectory, which would have been true for Pfeiffer in 2005, but no longer, sadly; something like The Substance would make perfect sense, though I can't imagine her signing on.
If she weren't married to the Ryan Murphy of the late '90s, I could see her (a la Lange/Bates/Bassett) joining the American Horror Story/Feud troupe, but I doubt that will happen. But who knows?
I co-sign everything everyone else has said.
We shouldn't really take any ownership of stars we love or the choices they make but more often that not we do.
Why on earth are her management and Michelle herself signing on for this lowest common denominator sap.
When I saw the trailer I looked at my husband and said "That looks horrendous" and by all acoounts I was right.
A word of advice Michelle if you can't find something worthy of the great talent you have,stay in until something worthy of someone like you turns up,Demi,Jamie Lee,Jodie they all waited and look what has happened to their careers.
I was excited for this one until everything I've heard about it. It looks and sounds like a Hallmark movie that landed an overqualified cast.
I love Stella, Wet Hot... etc, and Showalter clearly loves actressing, but as a director I really think his only good movie is The Big Sick.
I'm just not sure how someone as selective as Pfieffer is will do great, bold work in Mother! and French Exit and then wait a few years for this?
To be fair, it's not just Pfeiffer - this cast is star-studded. I'm guessing they partly signed on because Showalter has a lot of goodwill, but also, there just aren't a lot of options out there.
This is the 2025 version of The Family Stone, but the quality has declined this much because those types of movies aren't being theatrically released anymore, and except those few Netflix films that are produced with awards in mind, movies created for streaming just aren't as well-produced as theatrical releases on the whole.
"As a general cinematic rule, the redder her sleepless eyes or the wilder and more dishevelled her hair gets, the better La Pfeiffer's performances and surrounding Pfilms become."
This is why I hated Cheri and French Exit: Both coast on Pfeiffer as some untouchable symbol of beauty and icy elegance. Of course she is that, but you have to take it somewhere interesting. That's why The Age of Innocence and Dangerous Liaisons are arguably the least interesting performances from her hot streak. She was fantastic in Where is Kyra? and mother!
But TAR is the correct reference, she needs someone with real directorial vision who *wants* to build a huge epic work of art around her. That's not my line of work but if it were, I can't imagine a more rewarding thing to create tbh...
Nathaniel, I conpfess I can never get enough of you writing about La Pfeiffer! I share your deep love for her and have been sad for about 30 years! I recently worked with a bunch of Gen Z kids who had absolutely no idea who she was. That's just not right.
Agreed on everyone saying she needs a TAR-like vehicle, something of that level of quality, for it all to come back. I just wonder if she'd say yes to such a thing...sadly she's gotten less adventurous, not more adventurous.
I will love her forever, but due to your review...where I know it pains you to write that the movie is indeed a turd...I will skip watching this one!
Yeah, this was disappointing. And I was optimistic, given the cast and director, but it became very clear very quickly that it wasn’t going anywhere good. I’m echoing everyone else’s sentiments about Pfeiffer and her choices. I’ll always adore her, but…oof! I’m begging for a great auteur to get ahold of her.
She occupies a really interesting space. She's clearly still beloved, and she's had at least two roles (Catwoman, Susie Diamond) that alone will make her forever iconic. She's done enough interesting work in the last decade to remind us she still has it--I thought she was great in Mother!, French Exit, and Where is Kyra?, and as disappointing as The First Lady was, she was easily the standout.
But, damn ... she clearly has a soft spot for schlocky family fare. Given the kinds of roles she was taking in mid- to late-90s, when her career was hot hot hot, AND the roles she turned down I've always wondered if she doesn't have the best taste.
I just love her, and I miss the days when she was on fire back in the eighties and early nineties. But after years and years of poor choices (Personal Effects, New Year’s Eve, the Marvel movies, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and many others), it’s clear that she has no good taste, or simply doesn’t care. Maybe she’ll follow Nicole Kidman’s path and become more focused on TV and streaming productions after her next two new shows, Margo’s Got Money Troubles and The Madison.
No one. Absolutely no one -not even Winger- has wasted her potential more than HER.
Longoria has such a gift for comedy. Wish Film Twitter or the Industry loved her more.
DK I can't agree with you about Pfeiffer in TAOI,I find her endlessly fascinating and would pay good money to see what happened to the Countess before and after the film.
I think Cheri is her best lead performance since that film.
Co sign your love of Mother.
It's always nice reading you, Nathaniel.
I greatly appreciate your insightful analysis of the "miserable" expressions of family members during traditional holiday seasons. To make the content more engaging, I think you could add a comparison with other classic Christmas comedies to increase transparency in evaluating the film's quality; this clarity and convenience in the experience also aligns with the values that Unblocked Games brings, always prioritizing usability and seamless access for the community.
La Pfeiffer...
I agree with everyone here: she's great, but why these weak movies? Personally I think "French Exit" isn't that bad, but this?
Julianne Moore made a lot of garbage, but she alternated it with interesting projects. She even won her Oscar - and deserved nominations for the last two years, for "May December" and "The Room Next Door".
I don't understand Pfeiffer's case; she should be starring great movie.
Why she's not?
Heavens, why she's not?