Entertainment
The holidays are a time meant for getting together with relatives, spending quality time with loved ones, and partaking in your favorite holiday movies. I love Elf and Home Alone as much as the next movie-obsessed mom, but there are also holiday movies you definitely can not watch with your kids — and those are fun this time of year too.
Personally, I think it's hard to mix Christmas with horror and have something that isn't totally cringeworthy, but Krampus has so many solid jump scares, you almost forget it's a holiday movie. And for the love of old Saint Nick, please make sure the kids are in bed before watching either of the Bad Santa movies. Billy Bob Thornton's portrayal of a sloppy drunk Santa is hilarious, but it's also enough to scar any child for life.
So before you start a stream of any adult-oriented holiday movie, it's a good idea to make sure the kids are in bed for the night, dreaming of sugarplums and all that. It's nice to be able to start fun holiday movie marathon traditions with your kids, but sometimes you need a break from the holly jolly part of the holidays. And these are some of the holiday movies you can enjoy without needing too much child-like Christmas spirit.
Scrooged
In a modern take on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray plays a TV executive who needs to see his past, present, and future to understand what really matters in life. Expect some classic Murray humor. And although it may be a little dated for some (it premiered in 1988), it still holds up today. You can watch it with Amazon Prime.
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
Everyone's favorite burnouts returned in 2011 for another installment in the raunchy Harold & Kumar franchise. This time around, the friends have grown apart and are living separate and very different lives, but the magic of the holidays and another accidentally drug-fueled adventure could bring them together again. This one is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Trading Places
Trading Places is another older holiday movie for adults, but can you ever go wrong with Eddie Murphy? Nutty Professor II: The Klumps not withstanding, of course. This rated R '80s comedy is about a homeless con man and an investment executive who unwittingly switch places in order to settle a bet between two aging execs. Bonus points for including a younger Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Akroyd before they were together in My Girl. You can watch this story of comedic redemption during the holidays on Hulu and Amazon Prime as well.
The Night Before
Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie star in this comedy about three best friends who share a yearly tradition of going out on the town every Christmas Eve. Of course there are plenty of hijinks that involve multiple drugs and a little growth along the way. It has its moments of warm-hearted clarity, but for the most part, it's full of the inappropriate jokes we all crave. Right now, it's available on Hulu and on Amazon Prime.
Bad Santa
I never knew just how awful a movie Santa could be before I watched Bad Santa. Calling him a sloppy, dirty drunk is just barely scratching the surface. Thornton plays a mall Santa who plans to rob the mall and he barely gives his faux Santa gig the old college try. I'm not sure if he really grows by the end of the movie, but Bad Santa is definitely another way to celebrate the holidays if you've had enough animated talking animals and sentient snowmen. It's on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu too.
Bad Santa 2
As if one movie of the awful mall Santa wasn't enough, Thornton reprised his role in the 2016 Bad Santa sequel. This time, the plan is to rip off a holiday charity, so he definitely didn't learn his lesson from the previous movie. If you're into seeing Santa in a faded suit and with five o'clock shadow, you can stream Bad Santa 2 on Netflix and Amazon Prime too.
'Office Christmas Party'
Office Christmas Party came out in 2016 on the heels of the success of 2015's The Night Before, and it definitely delivered. T.J. Miller and Jennifer Aniston star as siblings who run their family's business together and both have different ideas of how they should celebrate the holidays. While Aniston is the no-nonsense half, Miller is all about having fun and boosting office morale to the highest degree. Jason Bateman also stars as Miller's BFF co-worker and sometimes voice of reason. If you're fine with having serious work party goals, you can find it on Hulu and Amazon Prime too.
Krampus
Krampus is another movie that will give your kid nightmares of Santa for years to come, so it's best to save it for when you get some much-needed adult alone time. The holiday horror movie is about the legend of Krampus, a horned creature who punishes naughty kids with torture and pain rather than a lump of coal. And when the Engel family loses its holiday spirit, Krampus arrives to wreak havoc. The Christmas horror movie is available for streaming on Hulu and on Amazon Prime.
A Bad Moms Christmas
It may not compare to the first movie, but A Bad Moms Christmas continues in the tradition of telling it like it is for so many real life moms everywhere. Only this time, it's about taking Christmas back and doing something fun for them for a change. And right now, I'm pretty sure most parents can relate to that sentiment. You're going to need an Amazon Prime account to stream this one because it doesn't appear to be available anywhere else.
I'm not shaming the likes of holiday classics, because I get my fill of those too, but if a movie can combine the horror genre or immature comedy with all that holly jolly, then sign me up.
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