Synopsis: After losing her job, making out with her soon to be ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending the holiday with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics.

Cast:
Holly Hunter .... Claudia Larson
Robert Downey Jr. .... Tommy Larson
Anne Bancroft .... Adele Larson
Charles Durning .... Henry Larson
Dylan McDermott .... Leo Fish
Geraldine Chaplin .... Aunt Gladys
Steve Guttenberg .... Walter Wedman
Cynthia Stevenson .... Joanne Larson Wedman
Claire Danes .... Kitt Larson
Emily Ann Lloyd .... Brittany Lace Wedman
Zack Duhame .... Walter Wedman Jr.
Austin Pendleton .... Peter Arnold
David Strathairn .... Russell Terziak
Amy Yasbeck .... Ginny Johnson Drewer
James Lecesne .... Ron Drewer

Favorite Quotes:
• Russell Terziak: "I'm just lettin' the guys have the day off, you know, so they can visit their families, since I'm all alone this year."
Tommy: [to Leo] "This is the saddest sack in the universe."
Russell Terziak: "Yeah, I don't have anybody anymore. My brother and sister got canned and they left town, and then my parents went and died on me."
Claudia Larson: "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
Russell Terziak: "Yeah, well, you know--it was a car wreck, last summer, drunk driver, cut right across the, uh, what was it, you know--meridian. Pow! Pow! Head on."

• Claudia Larson: "Didn't you have a girlfriend, or...?"
Russell Terziak: "Yeah, she went and married my best buddy, Ray."

• Claudia Larson: "You know, maybe next year will be better for you."
Russell Terziak: "Hey, yeah--or worse."

• Russell Terziak: "Well, duty calls. Merry Christmas, if I don't ever see you again. You have a nice life, Claudia." [He leaves. Claudia walks past Tommy and Leo in tears.]
Tommy: "She'll bounce back. Trust me on this."

Notes:
• Home For the Holidays reteamed David with co-star Holly Hunter, whom he had previously worked with in The Firm. He also worked with Geraldine Chaplin in A League of Their Own and would work with Robert Downey Jr. again in Good Night, And Good Luck.
• Robert Downey Jr. publicly admitted to using drugs during the making of Home For the Holidays and to having great difficulty filming his scenes. Director Jodie Foster tried to intervene but could not.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "...for example--everyone in the family would pester her to find a man, as if they had no concerns of their own. And certainly the subject comes up, most heartbreakingly in a scene with the sad-sack David Strathairn as an old classmate--a meeting arranged by Claudia's mom (Anne Bancroft)." -Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical

• "If you end up in the elevator with David Strathairn, remind him of how funny he was in Home For the Holidays as 'Sad Sack' Terziak, a dolorous small-town heater repairman. Strathairn, a former circus clown, deserves more opportunities for comedy." -Richard von Busack, Metro Active

• "And David Strathairn (Simon Birch, L.A. Confidential) has a touching cameo as an old friend of Claudia's, whom Tommy calls 'the saddest sack in the universe.'" -Mary Ann Johanson, Flick Filosopher

• "One of my favorite moments comes in the form of David Strathairn (Limbo) as Russell 'Sad Sack' Terziak, a literal sad frump who dumps all his problems on a smiling and bewildered Claudia." -Patrick Naugle, DVD Verdict

• "Nonetheless, any screen that shares the likes of Danes, Downey and Durning at the least promises certain pleasures, and this cast delivers; chance moments, like the cap-fumbling expression of ardor by Strathairn's furnace repairman for Claudia, are written with incisive symbolism yet played with an everyday humanism that makes them all the more real." -Kim Williamson, Boxoffice Magazine