If it's late October, it must be time for Christmas movies to start making their unwelcome appearance as they do without fail every year. The underlying theme to most, if not all, Christmas films (Silent Night, Deadly Night notwithstanding) is the idea that the holiday season brings out the best in mankind. Crabby cinema protagonists - from Ebenezer Scrooge to the Grinch to Tim Allen on probation - all somehow reclaim their humanity and become better people, thanks the spirit of Jesus (or Johnny Damon...whatever). It's a quaint formula, but one that we've seen dozens, if not hundreds, of times already.

Still, the market for such stories must be pretty solid, because every year another assortment of holiday-themed films comes along. First out of the gate this year is Surviving Christmas, featuring a post-J. Lo Ben Affleck, on the loose and ready for love.

The premise to Surviving Christmas is fairly simple, and should be familiar to anyone unable to escape the film's saturation bombing-style marketing campaign. Affleck plays Drew Latham, your typical "too busy for Christmas" executive type, who decides to rent a family for $250,000 in order to recapture that childhood holiday magic. Hilarity can only ensue, and ensue with extreme prejudice.

On the surface, you'd think this wouldn't be too hard to pull off. I mean, who among us really has a problem visualizing Ben Affleck as a self-centered, obnoxious, pain in the ass? And Surviving Christmas actually starts out with some promise. Traditional introductory yuletide scenes give way to grim jabs at holiday suicide and alcoholism, leading the audience to think they might be getting something in the spirit of Bad Santa, albeit rated PG-13. These sort of gags continues for a time, through Drew's decision (at the behest of his girlfriend's therapist) to visit his childhood home and exorcise some of his familial demons and his subsequent "renting" of the Valcos, the house's current residents. Too quickly, however, it degenerates into the expected romantic schmaltz, as Drew must decide whether to pursue his erstwhile "sister" Alicia (Christina Applegate), and everyone laments their unfortunate family conditions.