Love the Coopers

Like all major holidays, Christmas is a time for movies where a whole lot of people have individual stories that may or may not come together for a big rousing conclusion. Love, Actually has had the holiday to itself for far too long; now it’s time for the extended Cooper family to stake their claim.
The cast includes Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, Marisa Tomei, Olivia Wilde and Steve Martin as the narrator; the storylines leading up to the big Christmas dinner include the parents only staying together until after the holidays, someone hiding his unemployment, someone else hiding her single status, a third someone hiding a crush on his waitress, and a fourth someone hiding a shoplifted brooch in her mouth.
There’s just enough of an edge to enough of the stories to keep this from getting too sappy. Even if this does feature “adorable” kids and at one stage the family dog is described as “eating his feelings” as he devours leftovers. The destination is never in doubt but this tempers the feel-good stuff with enough insight into aging, love, and family tension to make the journey satisfying in a comfortingly mild way.
Reviewed by Anthony Morris