In Prime Video’s new holiday film, Oh. What. Fun., which is directed by Michael Showalter, Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Claire Clauster, a mother and holiday planner whose family accidentally leaves her behind — and in doing so, sets off a much different kind of Christmas story.
“Oh, it’s very indicative of what it’s like to be a mom during [the holidays] and you know, it’s not always the mom who’s behind putting this all together, but typically it is,” Pfeiffer said. “And there’s just so much work that goes in. I mean, it’s not just holidays. It’s just making life work with a family on every level. And you know, they really are just underappreciated, and everybody’s just running around with their busy lives.”
She added, “So I think this is really a love letter to all the moms out there who just feel like all of their efforts go unappreciated.”
Denis Leary, who plays Claire’s husband Nick, described his character’s realization across the film. “We’re watching it dawn on him in the course of this movie that he doesn’t do anything,” Leary said. “He’s got one assignment — to build that dollhouse — which he completely fails at. But that’s it. Right? He’s supposed to build this toy. She’s been planning for months. Months and months and months. The what we’re going to eat. The tickets to the show. Everything.”
He also connected the role to his own experience. “That really reflects my experience with Christmas. My wife has been planning already for all the arrangements and the food and everything. I haven’t done a thing. I haven’t thought about it at all. I’m actually living, in my real life, I’m living Nick’s experience right now.”
Leary added, “That’s why my wife loved watching the movie so much — because she related to Claire’s situation. But there aren’t enough movies about moms at Christmastime. It’s always about the guy playing Santa Claus, right? It’s always men. So I think we really resonate with families and with women.”
Changing roles and real conversations
Felicity Jones, who plays Claire’s daughter, spoke about the way the film captures how family dynamics evolve. “There can be a lot of tension when families come together,” Jones said. “Somehow, I think everyone gets to a place where they have to be really honest with each other.”
“I think they’re all perhaps a little bit pretending to be something that they’re not,” she added. “So they’re all kind of being overly polite maybe to each other. And they’re just working out, okay, what is the dynamic?”
Jones continued, “They all have grown up — the three children and the parents — and they all have had one way of being. And then, obviously, Jason is there, and our children. And so then there’s the extended family. And it’s so true to life how the dynamic has to shift. And in many ways, you can’t carry on with how you used to do it. That you do have to change, and everyone adapts, and hopefully gets to a more truthful place where people can feel like they can actually be themselves.”
Jason Schwartzman, who plays Doug, described how returning to a childhood home affects his character. “When you go back to the house that you basically grew up in, let’s say — now, you’re back in your bed that you were a kid. You know? And it’s sort of a preserved room,” he said. “But I think it’s highlighted who you are now being put back into the puzzle piece that was your life even in that physical space.”
On shaping Doug, he explained, “My main thing was just that I wanted it to be someone that Felicity would’ve married and loved. And then take it from there. You know what I mean? I’m just thinking like, ‘Who’s the guy that she would’ve liked and loved and is going to bring back, and where are they?’ And then from there… we just fit into the family.”
He added, “Doug is… he’s trying. Oh yeah. He’s trying.” Felicity Jones chimed in: “Trying his best.”
“I love also that they’re just so comfortable with each other that they treat him like however they would treat him,” Schwartzman said. “He’s not like some new… He’s been around this family now for a little while.”
Oh. What. Fun. is now streaming on Prime Video.