Christmas Movies

Every year, new films are rolled out for the Christmas holiday. Some become classics, others, well, less so.

One great Christmas sleeper film is Walt Stillman's 1990 film, Metropolitan. Nominated for an Oscar (Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen), and a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance (Dramatic), Metropolitan is the story of a group of Manhattan debs and their escorts as they wiling away the time over a Christmas holiday discussing politics, society, and, of course, each other.

The group of friends, self-identified as the Sally Fowler Rat Pack, or SFRP, is accidentally infiltrated by Tom Townsend, a middle-class Fourierist who disapproves of conventional society, and debutante balls in particular, but finds himself attending out of "nothing better to do." The SFRP adopt Townsend and a story of alienation, youthful angst, and friendship emerges.

The film stars Chris Eigeman, who is a favorite from Noah Baumbach's 1995 film, Kicking & Screaming, a film with which Metropolitan also shares a penchant for dry, witty dialogue spoken by precocious, over-educated youth.

Not a film for everyone, I suppose, but a Christmas classic, nevertheless. Certainly one that will endure.