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To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I watched this movie just because it was on the TV and I got nothing better to do. And this is the typical Christmas holiday movie, but it is entertaining and funny.It tells the story of various members from the Cooper family and how they get to arrive to the Christmas Dinner. As in this kind of movies, there are a lot of characters and you might connect better with ones than others. For example, I think Amanda Seyfried here was misused, and she could have give more, as well as others like the little kids needed less time on-screen (that's also usual in this movies). The characters I liked the most are Eleanor portrayed by a beautiful Olivia Wilde and Sam portrayed by John Goodman. It's not that the acting is superb but for me they were some of the best of the movie.Of course it's not a perfect movie. Since the beginning you probably will guess how it will end. It's full of clichés of romantic-holiday movies but it's still very enjoyable. Watch it if you want to have a good time, and I think this movie is specially made for Christmas time, so better if you watch in that time.

I went and saw the film, The Family Stone, in theatres when it first came out. It received mixed reviews, but for the most part, I really liked it. It dealt with a dysfunctional family getting together for the holidays. What made it work, in my mind at least, was that the characters felt honest, the chemistry between the cast felt real and despite the many dramatic moments, it had some heart. Love The Coopers is a poor imitation of these things. I bring up The Family Stone as a apt comparison, not only because Diane Keaton is the matriarch, but because both films try to convey the same message. The Family Stone's shortcomings happens in the final act with the girlfriend "switcheroo" whereas Love The Coopers shortcomings is the entire film.The film follows one family and their stories on Christmas Day. Keaton and her husband, John Goodman, are having one more family get together before they ultimately decide to leave each other after 40 years of marriage...depressing. Ed Helms is the son, separated from his wife, unemployed and feeling less of a man and even lesser of a father...depressing. Then we have Alan Arkin, the grandfather, who eats at the same diner everyday just to have a conversation with the pretty waitress, Amanda Seyfried, and to convince her she has value in this world....depressing. The beautiful Olivia Wilde plays the daughter. She is on her way home and is wasting time at the airport so she can spend less time with her family. She meets a good looking young soldier and convinces him to come home with her so she doesn't have to be a disappointment to her mother...depressing. On top of that...yes, there is more...we have Diane Keaton's sister, who has a strained relationship and shoplifts some jewelry for a present, only to get caught and have a thoughtful one on one conversation with a police officer...you guessed it....depressing. Did I forget to mention that the sister is played by Marissa Tomei? Yes, Marissa Tomei, so there lies a big problem for me. The casting of this film is all over the place. It seems they wanted to cast the recognizable face and name and not the role. In this film, we have constant 'flashes of memories' of the characters when they were younger. So we flash to the sisters when they were kids. They are maybe, 3 to 5 years apart. Then we come to the present and discover that the sister is Diane Keaton and Marissa Tomei. They have a 20 year age difference between each other. On top of that Alan Arkin plays their father....he is 12 years older than Keaton. I was so confused as to how Arkin and Tomei fit into the picture for 75% of the film. I thought he was Goodman's brother and Tomei was Keaton's daughter. While the cast does a decent job in the roles, none of the material is strong enough to hold any weight. None of the stories are engaging and it tries so hard to be emotional. I didn't really care about Goodman and Keaton's failing marriage because it never feels like the characters are really trying, or love each other, or anything at all really. The strained relationship between Keaton and almost everyone feels fake. None of these stories really work for me with the weakest one being Helms. He literally has nothing to do in this film, it's a little sad actually. Even for a 'depressing' Christmas film, Coopers fails. For it to be depressing, I feel like we need to have some sort of attachment to the characters, I had none. Steve Martin narrates the film to give it a "Christmas story" feel, it also falls a little flat. I just couldn't find myself caring about anything here.

I started this movie just because nothing was on (tube full of Xmas). I was first sucked in by the great John Goodman and the sublime Alan Arkin. Once Olivia Wilde's character started to develop I was hooked.I am gobsmacked to see how wrong the low ratings for this movie are. The unique characters and the depth of emotions, mostly love, are incredible. Maybe people want quick cuts and action and just don't know how to let a movie based on dialogue slowly draw them in and make you care about the characters, all of which are rounded and easily lovable,yet each deeply flawed in ways anyone that has lived a few decades will identify with. I am a tough guy in my 50s and I shed tears three times. Not only that,but several times I had to pause the film so I could ponder how the wise words about love and life relate to my life and mistakes. From this day on my life will be better because of what i realized was true,as displayed in this movie, about family, love, regrets. And I will forever love Olivia Wilde. Her scenes alone are worth watching this movie. If you can watch this movie closely and not shed a tear, you are dead inside and should immediately seek psychiatric help. Solid 7.5/10

It's Christmas Eve and the Coopers are gathering for a family dinner. Sam (John Goodman) and Charlotte (Diane Keaton) are fighting after a long marriage. Their son Hank (Ed Helms) lost his job and is struggling to get his kids gifts. Emma (Marisa Tomei) has always been jealous and bitter at her sister Charlotte. She tries to steal a broach and is arrested by Officer Williams (Anthony Mackie). Sam and Charlotte pick up Aunt Fishy (June Squibb) from the retirement home. Charlotte's father Bucky (Alan Arkin) keeps eating at a diner for the companionship of waitress Ruby (Amanda Seyfried) and definitely not for the food. Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) hates to be the disappointment to her mother Charlotte and picks up military Joe (Jake Lacy) at an airport bar.This is a rather standard PG dysfunctional family Christmas. There is some good and some less-than-good from the talented cast. Wilde and Lacy are the most fun and their formulaic rom-com works well. Goodman and Keaton's fighting is a little annoying. Keaton has played this character a lot and this is not her best. Helms plays the pathetic guy. It's not the most endearing performance. I expected more back story from Arkin and Seyfried. There should be a bigger reason why he keeps going to the diner to see her. All in all, this is a functional dysfunctional family fare with a few minor problems. The one problem that keeps distracting from the story is Steve Martin's narration. Both the narrations and the flashbacks keep disrupting the flow. The narration's reveal do not help either. It's a gimmick that is too cheesy to spoil. The standard material and good cast should be good enough for a passable movie except for the disruptive narrations.