In Prime Video’s “Oh. What. Fun,” Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire Clauster, the matriarch of the Clauster family. Though Claire does everything for her clan as Christmas comes around, nobody in the family appears to notice, including her three grown children, her two young grandchildren, and her husband (Denis Leary). They don’t even do the one thing she wanted for Christmas: enter her in her favorite talk show’s “Holiday Moms” contest. And when the whole group manages to leave her behind and go to an activity she organized, Claire has had it; she takes off to have her own Christmas adventure, free from her family.
We can’t blame Claire for being frustrated. After all, moms are often the glue that hold the whole family together, especially at holiday time. Yet, as “Oh. What. Fun.” itself points out, they’re scarcely given their due. After all, when was the last time you encountered a holiday movie that was about a mom on the big screen? They’re mostly about men, including Santa Claus. But mothers tend to really be the ones who “see you when you’re sleeping” and “know when you’re awake.”
This makes “Oh. What. Fun” the rare Christmas movie that’s an ode to moms. As Pfeiffer herself told Cinema Express, “When I read the script, I immediately connected with Claire because she represents so many moms who are the unsung heroes of their families, especially during the holidays. She’s this incredibly capable person who makes everything look effortless. But inside, she’s yearning to be seen and appreciated.”
Michelle Pfeiffer remembers her own mother on Christmas
Understanding her own mother’s love for her and being a mom herself have all gone into Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance — which hopefully is one of the few roles that doesn’t make her cringe — in “Oh. What. Fun,” with Pfeiffer recently recalling her favorite memory of her own mom from a past Christmas. “When I was like 4 or 5, I remember my mother went out of her way to get me this one doll that I really wanted, and I didn’t think that I was going to get it,” Pfeiffer reminisced to USA Today. “I remember the look on her face when she saw the look on my face when I opened that gift. It just left a huge imprint on me.”
Moms rarely get their due on the big screen or in real life, and as much as motherhood can be a joy, it can also be filled with anguish — as a slew of recent movies have pointed out, including “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “Hamnet,” and “Die My Love.” “Oh. What. Fun.” is on the lighter side of those cinematic experiences but still tackles the sadness a mom can feel at her children’s benign neglect.
As “Oh. What. Fun” suggests, this holiday season we should all pay more attention to our moms, the amazing people they are, and the effort they put into making the holiday special. So treat them like the heroes they are — help with the meals, wrap the gifts, and clean up after yourself — and you’ll find your holidays are even better.