On the surface, Deck The Halls seems like another formulaic, contrived, screwball holiday comedy straight off the assembly line. The characters, premise and many of the gags in this film appear modeled after 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The difference here involves the solid, warm, engaging performances from leads Matthew Broderick and Danny De Vito plus a strong message about self-worth served up with genuine laughs.

In the middle of the night, a truck with bad brakes and  driven by Buddy Hall (Danny De Vito) squeals loudly as it tries to stop on a quiet residential street, waking Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick) and wife Kelly (Kristen Davis) in the process. Finch is incensed that someone could be stupid enough to move into the house across the street at this hour. "After all," he quips, "only meth labs set up camp at this hour."

Buddy suffers from an inferiority complex. Loathing himself, he feels unimportant and thinks he has not lived up to his potential. After accepting a new position at a car dealership, he moves wife Tia (Kristin Chenoweth), and twins Ashley (Sabrina Aldridge) and Emily (Kelly Aldridge) into the house across the street from the Finches.

Steve and Kelly first meet Buddy as he attempts to swipe their newspaper off their porch. Buddy adjusts himself as Steve opens the front door. He states he found the paper on the lawn and assumed there could be sprinklers that would ruin it.

When Emily and Ashley find a Web site with satellite images constantly being taken of houses in their neighborhood, Buddy views it and locates every house on their street except his. He puts lights on his roof to see if it will make any difference in the satellite‘s ability to find his house. It doesn’t.

Then Buddy goes overboard buying thousands of strands of lights just so a satellite will be able to see his home. The light display attracts media organizations and streams of cars line up all day and night honking their horns as they pass by. Buddy is now important, and people want to get to know him. He craves this continuous attention. He even  purchases a timer that allows the lights to remain on until 4 a.m. to allow people from out of state to view the lights after his family retires for the night. The lights shine directly into Steve and Kelly's bedroom.

Steve cannot compromise with Buddy about this situation. But Buddy does not want the attention and the feeling he gets from it to go away. Will Steve find peace? Will Buddy take down the display? The feud is on!

Deck The Halls works because of Broderick and De Vito’s flawless comedic timing. De Vito draws audiences in with his performance despite his character’s disgusting habits. His "Buddy" is very reminiscent of Randy Quaid’s boorish Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon‘s Christmas Vacation.

Boasting solid direction by John Whitesell, Deck The Halls is the perfect family film to put viewers in the holiday spirit.

(Released by 20th Century Fox and rated "PG" for some crude and suggestive humor and language.)