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It Sure Is Nice to Have Ben Stiller Back

The raucous Nutcrackers upholds Stiller’s place as one of American cinema’s funnier objects of humiliation.

The last time we saw David Gordon Green, he was lost in the muddle of a cursed Exorcist sequel, which he’d made after a trio of interesting but wildly uneven Halloween movies. Wild, unkempt, and uncouth, the home-schooled kids are played by a quartet of real-life brothers: Homer, Ulysses, Arlo, and Atlas Janson, four vivacious nonprofessionals from rural Ohio who apparently inspired Green to make the film in the first place. Stiller, who has a knack for playing everyday guys who somehow can’t help but act like total jagoffs, brings the right mix of relatable decency and cold calculation to the part; this is not one of his signature performances, but it’s certainly nice to have him back.

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