Big Fat Family Christmas
Reviewed by Lisa Sue
Whelp, I came for the dragon at Christmas but stayed to make sure the girl got her guy in the end and learned something about herself in the process. The Chang family puts on a big outlandish Christmas party every year, and photographer daughter Liv, while not boycotting it, does keep herself at arm’s length from the Changtastic-ness. They trademarked the phrase, not I. The movie goes into why Liv is like this, at first we see the family’s over the top fusion of Chinese and Christmas décor mixed with the fact that like most Asians they are hoarders and don’t throw anything away, which clashes with Liv’s minimalistic neutral tone personality. The twist is that a new reporter, Henry, has just arrived from Bangkok at the paper and needs to pitch to their boss a great story. He hears tell of a crazy loud Asian Christmas party and pitches it to the big wig Charles who assigns Liv as the photographer. Of course, in the keeping with the theme of secrets she doesn’t tell Henry or Charles that its her family that puts on this annual shin dig. Liv has grand plans to do the job, to get her photo on the front page finally, all while keeping her name out of it. We know this won’t end well for Liv, question is just how bad will it get?
Liv tries to stall Henry on his way to interview her parents, they stop in a cute café, Sleigh Café, which is Christmas themed year-round. Liv was going to order her usual of hot chocolate but is persuaded by Henry to try the Butterfly Pea Milk Boba (made from the butterfly pea flower). Turns out butterfly pea milk reminds Henry of his grandma, and he gets a little homesick for Bangkok. Pro tip from Henry, butterfly milk tea does appear to be a summery drink, not necessarily something to warm you up; which makes sense given it comes from Bangkok, not exactly known for its frightful winter weather. Next stop is the purveyor of the crazy Chang party decorations, Mrs. Lin who not only is an original attendee of the first Changtastic Christmas 25 years ago but is making a gingerbread house for this year’s party. But not just any gingerbread house, but a replica of the Chang’s house, where Christmas meets Crazy. Mrs. Lin’s words, not mine. But Henry is no dummy and is a decent investigative journalist and learns from Mrs. Lin that Liv is the Chang’s daughter, he just doesn’t understand why she wants to hide this and go by Liv Rose on social media. Liv’s reply is something about keeping her personal and professional life separate and not getting the story because she’s a Chang. We know there is more that Liv isn’t saying, but that is what she tells Henry for now.
Henry then meets the Changs, Liv’s parents as well as brother. The dad is the Chef, each year trying to out do himself. The family fondly remembers the baked sweet potato dumplings and the char siu tamales, fusions like the braised abalone with cranberry sauce thankfully didn’t make the cut. The decorations are mom’s purview, and like the food, the décor is a fusion of cultures. Why have just a red nosed reindeer when you can have a fire breathing dragon? The Changs invite the whole neighborhood as a way to build community and give back and each year the invitees are given a red envelope. And in return the attendees put money into the envelope that gets donated to things like the local community center. Henry is suitably impressed by this tight knit neighborhood, and in fact seeing the Changs makes him homesick for what I presume is his own crazy loud Asian family. He agrees to keep Liv’s secret from their boss Charles but tells her to tell them. And soon because the longer she waits the worse it will be. After a fun day capped off with an eggnog martini, Henry’s words couldn’t be more prophetic. As Liv has collected the red envelopes (full of money) they jump on a cable car to fulfill Henry’s dream of riding a cable car. They get a little carried away…and before they know it they’ve lost the bag of donated money! What will Liv tell her parents? What about the community center, and the orphaned children counting on the donation? What about them LIV?
The break of the dynamic duo in this movie is kinda rough. So to answer a question posed earlier, it gets pretty bad for Liv. when Liv tells her parents she lost the money, which as part of guilt trip they blame themselves as they should have collected the money like they normally do. Her parents are so upset they tell Liv she that now gets what she wants, and if the carnival spectacle known as Changtastic Christmas is so embarrassing to her, then maybe she shouldn’t come to the party after all. Then to top it all off, Liv leaves Henry to try and finish off his article on Changtastic Christmas alone, even though no one is really feeling the holiday spirit. It is in these depths of despair that Liv turns to the church in the neighborhood where she meets a nice nun, who surprisingly wasn’t already on the guest list to the Changtastic Chrristmas. The nun tells her it is important to share our light, as we don’t know who may need it. Queue the darkness lifting on Liv as she gets back to Henry to make sure her partner has the article finished. Then she admits to Henry the real reason she hides behind a camera, why she’s kept her distance from the Changtastic Christmas. Turns out in the 7th grade some really mean girls showed the whole school her singing and they started to mock her with broken English, etc. But rather than stay true to herself (as surely as the rest of the family has) she let them break her spirit. Liv stopped singing and let her detractors define who she is. She was never truly embarrassed by the Changtastic Christmas, she was really embarrassed of herself, for letting those haters change her. Well, that stops this Christmas. She comes to the party (her parents really didn’t want her staying away) and sings her heart out, and in so doing raised the funds to make up for the lost donations. And in shocker, they get the front page AND Henry is sticking around. All we need to close out this out is one more miracle. Turns out the missing money was returned after a neighbor (again, suspiciously not invited) saw the donation plea that Liv had on IG, and we have our last Christmas miracle! The orphaned children get the funding for the art program at the community center after all so let the rejoicing begin! Side note, apparently the Liv actress is an opera singer, and a prolific voice actor. If she doesn’t book more of these Christmas movies gigs, which she totally should.
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