A Merry Friggin’ Christmas is a 2014 Black Comedy Christmas film starring Joel McHale and Robin Williams.
Boyd Mitchler is a father of two desperately trying to keep Douglas (Pierce Gagnon), his youngest, from realizing that Santa does not exist and turning into a cynic like he did at his age. Unfortunately for Boyd he was invited by his brother, Nelson Mitchler (Clark Duke), to attend his baby's baptism which was scheduled on the eve before Christmas; this forces Boyd to spend his Christmas with his estranged father, Mitch Mitchler, and the rest of his extended family of train wrecks. It goes as well as one would expect given their disdain for each other, but then Boyd learns that his wife (Lauren Graham) left Douglas’ presents at home, causing him to have to drive with Mitch and eventually leading to certain issues being aired out.
A Merry Friggin’ Christmas has the following friggin’ tropes:
- Accidental Pervert: Shauna Weinke swears Dave is this, despite that Mitch says otherwise.
- Big Eater: Apparently Rance Weinke is considered the pride and joy of Shauna's side of the family given his ability to win in eating contests.
- Berserk Button: Don't ever say Nelson isn't a war hero in front of Mitch, even if the only reason the former has PTSD was because he fell off the back of a truck; Nelson technically still served in the Military.
- Big Sister Instinct: Although Vera Mitchler is skeptical of the existence of Santa, she understands her father’s motives and keeps her little brother from realizing the fact just to keep him happy and even acts as a voice of reason around idiots like Rance and Pam Weinke.
- Bittersweet Ending: Downplayed; While Boyd manages to make it back and keep his son in belief of Santa, it's implied in Douglas' Dream Sequence that he will eventually realize that Santa doesn't exist in the way he thought he did. Despite this, it doesn't take away from the fact that even if he isn't the magical figure he believed him to be, the concept of Santa is still kept alive one way or another. To add more to the sweetness, Boyd and his father finally reconcile and the family has a happy Christmas, especially since it finally started snowing.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Deconstructed; Mitch had the idea that being a terrible dad is what made Boyd a good one and gave him a good life, except that it is revealed that it left him with problems and hatred for him after given he ended up with a lifestyle he didn’t truly want.
- Double Entendre: Dave's last name happens to be Weinke, which comes off as a euphemism for penis, and he just so happened to have flashed his privates in front of bunch of old lades once...a very bad combination of irony.
- Jerkass Realization: Mitch finally has this after Boyd gets into road rage with Zblocki after attempting to pull him over again when he just got out of a huge fight with him.
- Jerkass: The two biggest ones in this film are Mitch and Officer Zblocki, although the latter is downplayed as he is just dissonantly cheery doing his job while Boyd and Mitch are in a hurry.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Downplayed; Luann's misinterpretation of what Boyd meant by a thumbs up caused her to forget Douglas' presents...and the train set intended for him was taken by the housewatcher Luann hired for the house during
- Noodle Incident: While the details are rather sketchy given that the story's told by Shauna, apparently Dave flashed a bunch of old ladies as a part of a bet while he was drunk.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Invoked; Mitch was an awful father to Boyd, causing the latter to make up a mantra called the WWMD principlenote , and then do the "exact opposite" of what his dad would have done with his kids. Basically he wants to keep them from having to experience what he did.
- Reconstruction: Of the entire Santa genre. While kids will eventually realize that Santa isn't the magical figure he's portrayed as by books, that he still exists one way or another...whether it be some drunk hobo in a suit or even your own parents.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Zblocki eventually decides to do this after a road rage incident with Boyd, and signs off for the night to be with his own family for Christmas.
- Stepford Smiler: Boyd reveals to be this after going off on his father over his complaints of being edited out of multiple photos.
