“Why are there shotgun pellets in my chicken?”
What answer could there be other than, “Because it's squirrel.”
That is the exact answer given from a father to his adult son in the trailer for the new movie, “A Merry Friggin' Christmas.” From the trailer, the film appears to fit squarely into the subgenre of holiday movies of comedies surrounding families (biological or not) who don't get along (generally, but not always because at least one of them is a bad person).
Directed by Tristram Shapeero (“Community”), “A Merry Friggin' Christmas” stars the late Robin Williams, Joel McHale, Lauren Graham, Clark Duke, Candice Bergen and more. It is the tale of a man, Boyd (McHale), who his forced to spend Christmas with his dysfunctional family only to learn that he kind of forgot his son's gifts at his house and has to make a mad dash with his father (Williams) on Christmas Eve to get them.
While there are laughs in the trailer, and the family does seem to have issues, we aren't given the exact reasons that Boyd has chosen to separate himself from his clan. We do, however, get a threat made to dismember an unconscious, believed-to-be-deceased, Santa (Oliver Platt), a Santa they hit with their truck.
That isn't quite “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” but it isn't Mr. Rogers either. Rated PG-13 (as opposed to R, like “Harold & Kumar”), the threat of dismemberment by chainsaw may be as far as the film goes.
This is just one movie still due to be released which stars Williams. He reprises his role as Teddy Roosevelet in the upcoming “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.”
“A Merry Friggin' Christmas” open November 7th.