21st Century Christmas Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Christmas with the Kranks

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis star as Luther and Nora Krank. Their daughter, Blair, is in the Peace Corps and will be overseas for Christmas. Luther does some math and comes up with a shocking figure for what the Kranks usually spend on Christmas - over $6000! Since they are not excited to celebrate without Blair, the Kranks agree to forego Christmas celebrations and spend the money on a cruise instead.

Their neighbours and fellow townspeople don't like this decision at all; the Kranks are treated poorly for their decision to abstain from Christmas. Despite the conflict, when the Kranks learn on Christmas Eve that Blair will be home for Christmas after all, the neighbourhood bands together to help them pull off a last Christmas celebration, with food and decorations and all.

Answer: Arthur Christmas

In this animated movie, Santa has two sons - Steve (voiced by Hugh Laurie) and Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy). Steve is anxiously awaiting the day his father will retire so that he can be Santa. When an elf discovers a gift that was left behind when Santa did his Christmas Eve delivery, younger son Arthur and his grandfather, Grand-Santa, decide to head out in Grand-Santa's old sleigh to get the gift to a little girl before Christmas morning.

This causes Santa to realize that Arthur, and not Steve - who didn't care much about the undelivered gift - is the worthy successor to the position of Santa. Santa is able to happily retire, turning over his duties to Arthur.

Answer: Four Christmases

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as Brad and Kate, with an ensemble cast playing their relatives, including Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenoweth, Robert Duvall and Jon Favreau among others.

Brad and Kate are both anti-marriage, anti-children due to their dysfunctional family history. Both have divorced parents and siblings with children. Brad and Kate usually lie about doing charity work overseas over the holidays while they're actually just on vacation to avoid their families, but when fog grounds their plane and they're shown on a news broadcast, they know the jig is up and they'll have to visit their families this year. This leads to four Christmas celebrations, at each of their parents' houses.

Answer: Deck the Halls

In this movie, Matthew Broderick stars as Steve Finch and Danny DeVito stars as the new neighbour, Buddy Hall. Kristin Davis and Kristin Chenoweth appear as their respective wives. Steve is very into Christmas and his family and town's traditions. The movie was critically panned.

When the Halls move in, Buddy puts up a ton of Christmas lights, enough so that his house can be seen on satellite images from space. Eventually, there is a light show set to music. Between that and the horse-drawn sleigh he rents, Buddy starts to be known around town, which upsets Steve who is usually known as the "Christmas guy". Their rivalry culminates in Steve buying a lot of fireworks and accidentally setting his own house on fire. When their wives and kids leave the neighbourhood in favour of staying at a motel, Buddy and Steve put aside their differences.

Answer: The Holiday

Both Iris and Amanda have been through recent heartbreaks and decide to get out of town for awhile. Using an online website, they are matched up and switch houses for two weeks, with Iris heading to Amanda's luxurious California home and Amanda going to Iris' "quaint cottage" in England. Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz star as Iris and Amanda.

Both women find new love interests in their vacation homes, with Amanda falling for Iris' brother Graham, played by Jude Law, and Iris becoming close with Miles, played by Jack Black.

Answer: The Nativity Story

"The Nativity Story" is a dramatic depiction of the biblical Christmas story, the birth of Jesus. Keisha Castle-Hughes and Oscar Isaac star as Mary and Joseph. The film follows the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary to tell her that she will bear the son of God, through their journey to Bethlehem for the census and the birth of Jesus in the stable.

Answer: The Family Stone

Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Meredith Morton and Everett Stone is played by Dermot Mulroney. The rest of the family is played by a wonderful ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson and Claire Danes.

Most of the Stone family do not like Meredith at first, and mother Sybil originally refuses to give Everett his grandmother's ring to present to Meredith. She later changes her mind, but by then Everett doesn't want to marry Meredith; he's starting to fall for her sister Julie. Meanwhile, Meredith has been getting close to Everett's brother Ben. When the family all gathers again the next Christmas, Everett and Julie are together and Meredith and Ben are together.

Answer: Bad Santa

Billy Bob Thornton stars as Willie, the bad Santa. Not only is this Santa a thief, but he is not very friendly to children, and an alcoholic and sex addict to boot. In the movie, Willie meets Thurman and at first takes advantage of the boy and his grandmother, but later helps defend Thurman from a bully and becomes friendly with him.

When Willie's partner Marcus turns on him and plans to kill him, Thurman helps the police get to Willie in time to stop Marcus, though Willie ends up getting hurt too; the police shoot him, unarmed, at Thurman's house while Willie is trying to deliver a Christmas gift for the boy.

Answer: Surviving Christmas

Ben Affleck stars as Drew in this movie that was a theatrical flop. When he breaks up with his girlfriend just before Christmas, Drew has nothing to do and nowhere to go for the holidays. His therapist suggests a trip to his childhood home. When he gets there, Drew offers the family living there $250,000 to let him spend Christmas with them, with the stipulation that they pretend to be his actual family and do the activities that he plans. James Gandolfini plays Tom Valco, the head of the family living in Drew's old house.

Things become more complicated when Drew's girlfriend Missy decides to take him back and brings her family to visit Drew and his "family". Drews adds more money to his offer to the Valcos if they continue to play along, but the charade quickly unravels.

Answer: Elf

Will Ferrell does a wonderful job playing Buddy, a human who was raised at the North Pole as an elf. Even though he is very much not elf-like as an adult, Buddy is surprised to discover that he is actually a human and that Papa Elf is not his real family. Buddy goes to New York to find his dad, Walter, and discovers he also has a stepmother and a half-brother, Michael.

Buddy doesn't fit in too well in New York. He is still dressed as an elf, has very strange eating habits and is absolutely enchanted and enthused by everything. He gets arrested when he fights with a department store Santa, because he expects the real Santa that he knows from the North Pole to be there and is shocked to see a fake. The real Santa does appear in New York at the end of the film; he crashes his sleigh in Central Park and Buddy and his friends have to help people believe in Santa and have Christmas spirit to get Santa off the ground again.