It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

I'm prepared for all sorts of crazy comments with this statement I'm about to make, but it's true: I've never seen a single episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Now, before you guys start sending out letter bombs or anything, the reason for me not watching the show isn't because I think it doesn't look that funny or it's not my kind of humor - just simply that I haven't gotten around to it yet. Thankfully, I was invited down to the Fox studio lot to watch this new straight-to-DVD holiday special, and trust me, I'll be getting around to the first four seasons of this series in the very near future. In fact, just today, I ordered the first four seasons online, and I can't wait to catch up on this outlandish series because if it's as crazy as this holiday special was (and I'm told that it is), I'm in for quite a treat.

This DVD is basically two episodes blended together in a seamless 45-minute presentation with a hilarious holiday spin on it. See, for the gang down at Paddy's Pub, Christmas has never been something to celebrate. We open this special on Christmas Eve and everyone is in a cranky mood down at the bar, but Charlie (Charlie Day) and Mac (Rob McElhenny) are determined to get into the Christmas spirit and cheer up Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Dee (Kaitlin Olson), who still have terrible memories from Christmas' past with their lousy father Frank (Danny DeVito). It appears that Frank would always trick the younger Dennis and Dee into thinking they got great presents, when in fact Frank would just buy himself great presents. It seems that nothing has changed from the old days, when Frank arrives at the pub in a bright yellow Lamborghini Countach - which had been Dennis' dream car for as long as he can remember, and, of course, Frank got the car for himself. From there they take a page from A Christmas Carol and the whole gang, through a series of hilarious little stunts, try to make Frank see the error of his ways before Christmas. Along the way we see how Christmas is done, Sunny style, with some outlandish holiday traditions from Charlie (whose promiscuous mother would have several Santa's come "cheer her up" on Christmas day) and Dennis (whose criminal parents would break into other people's houses and steal other kids' presents), as they both realize that their cherished traditions are pretty effed up.

It's been awhile since I've laughed as hard as I did during this Sunny holiday special. The writing is rather brilliant, with rapid-fire Sorkin-esque dialogue and gags that really have to be seen to be believed. I could tell you how hard I laughed at the bit, where Dennis and Dee hid Frank at a couch during the office Christmas part of the company he used to work for (slight shades of Fezziwigs from A Christmas Carol here... very very slight), but it's just something you have to see for yourself. If you're wondering why they hide Frank in a couch at his old office, it's because Dennis and Dee think they will hear all these people in Frank's old office bad-mouth him, even though it doesn't happen. In fact, all of their illogical plans pan out in hilarious ways for the viewers and terrible ways for the characters and there really isn't a singular dull moment in this succinct 45-minute film.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas is the missing piece in the dysfunctional holiday film series I've been waiting for. While I, like many Americans, find myself watching traditional holiday fare like It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story and even The Polar Express over the holidays, I like to change it up a bit as well. I always try to watch dysfunctional holiday classics like The Ref (easily one of the best comedies EVER) and Bad Santa for a healthy dose of adult-themed laughs to shake out the traditional holiday fare. This year, with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas, I just might have found the missing piece of my hilarious holiday film puzzle.

While any fan of the show will surely be incredibly tickled with this new DVD, any fan of subversive humor and questionable morals will get a gut-busting kick out of this crass holiday classic, and will likely make new fans of the show out of anybody that watches it. I know it made a new fan out of me.

Sadly I was only invited to the lot for the 45-minute feature, so I wasn't able to check out the special features. We do get some deleted scenes with the young Charlie and young Mac, a behind-the-scenes and making-of featurette plus a new sing-along with the gang. I haven't seen these features, of course, but since there is something on here, I'll give them a default 2.5 stars out of 5, even though I didn't see them.

The movie is presented in the widescreen format in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital Surround Sound format.

Nothing fancy here, but the front cover just has a shot of the guys in Christmas apparel with the title card above. I'm not sure what's on the back cover though.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas is a pitch-perfect antidote to predictable holiday specials. It's crass and hilarious with plenty of holiday cheer, served Sunny-side up.