It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (TV Series) A Very Sunny Christmas (2009) User Reviews

A Very Funny Christmas

[Takethisoathx · 10/10 · 17 November 2009]

"A Very Sunny Christmas" places the hysterical cast of the series "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" in a Christmas epidemic. If you're a fan of the series, then this 42 minute comedy will have you watching it from now until Christmas morning.

(Possible Spoilers): On a personal level, I found several pieces of the short (and I call it a short because it lacked length), to be overwhelmingly hysterical. Dennis and Dee deal with the "Christmas Grinch" Frank who has forever destroyed Christmas for them since their childhood while Mac and Charlie deal with their past Christmas experiences haunting them in their present.

Soon to be must see every Christmas.

[TheEmulator23 · 9/10 · 13 January 2010]

This is so hilarious & I loved every second of it. It was nice to see them have some F-Bomb's in there too. This is one of those shows that has found it's rhythm & continues to get better funnier & more absurd. I can just see every script reading & how hard it must be to not just continually laugh all the way through. This show is pretty brilliant & this is one of the funnier specials I've seen. The whole old fashioned claymation(?) & the accompanying song is truly inspired & funny as hell. If you like the show you'll love this special. If you don't know the show well it's still funny but you won't enjoy it as much. I never thought I'd see a show quite as good as "Arrested Development" but this sure is close. I would say this & "Modern Family" are the funniest shows on TV right now. If you enjoy "South Park" you are sure to enjoy these absolutely classic characters & the actors who should all have plenty of work in TV & movies in the future just because of how good they all are. This is some of the best work Danny Devito has ever done & he shows why he was so good on "Taxi" some 30 years ago. If you think that garbage like "2 1/2 Men" are funny then well you don't know how to appreciate great dirty writing. However if you get sick of the same ol' so-called "JOKES," on said show, then c'mon over & jump on the hilarity bandwagon! You'll be glad you did.

Double episode with many iconic moments.

[hewlett61 · 10/10 · 23 January 2021]

From Frank emerging from a couch, Charlie attacking Santa Clause, and Mac's parents breaking into houses to steal Christmas gifts, few episodes have so may iconic scenes. The most incredible thing to me is the actor who portrays Mac as a 10 year old. He looks and acts just like the adult version. They both even throw rocks at trains left handed.

Christmas special: Typically twisted festive humour

[bob the moo · 30 December 2010]

It's Christmas in Paddy's and of not everything is silent. Charlie and Mac love their Christmas traditions of putting up decorations last minute and then spending the morning throwing rocks at passing trains. However, for Dennis and Dee Christmas has always been about Frank buying the presents they wanted but for himself - to somehow teach them a lesson about having to earn everything that you get. When this happens again the siblings set out to change Frank in a Christmas Carol-esquire way, while both Charlie and Mac head down memory lane and uncover things about their respective Christmases that never occurred to them before.

Although IMDb have this as the season finale of last year, I didn't realise it existed until this Christmas and it seemed like the right time to watch it as otherwise the TV is generally full of heart-warming festive cheer or movies that everyone has already seen twice before they roll up on terrestrial; at least with this show you never have to worry about it being sentimental since you have to have a heart to be sentimental and none of the characters here have any love in them beyond the large amount they feel for themselves. And so it is even at Christmas as we have Frank "Christmas Caroled" - a plan that involves the sight of a completely naked and sweaty Danny Devito crawling from a leather sofa in the middle of a Christmas party, while Mac works out that all his presents had been stolen from other families and Charlie tries to bury the memory that his mother worked as a prostitute in return for her johns dressing as Santa and bring her son presents - so, yeah, not a lot of festive cheer.

This special contains the same morally bankrupt humour that fans will know to expect and it easily fills the double episode running time. It is consistently hilarious in the dialogue, the performances and more imaginative bits like Frank's Christmas vision. The cast are a strong as ever and thrown themselves totally into it - as best demonstrated by the sight of DeVito's ass. Overall a very funny Christmas special where yet again the standard is set high. This should tide me over till I get the sixth season but it has also made me want it all the more. Great stuff.

A must see Christmas special if your a fan of the series. Funny crazy a nice scrooge like Christmas feast treat!

[blanbrn · 9/10 · 20 December 2009]

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" "A very Sunny Christmas" is a must see for anyone that's a fan of the show watching it before Christmas will make your holiday seem even better and more crude and funny! As to expect you know this 42 minute special directed by Fred Savage would be crazy far out and crude hey even Paddy's gang can make the holiday demented and rude! Still this special takes some of the themes of Christmas and some not anyway it's a Christmas in Philly that twisted and out of the ordinary, yet out of style and out of the ordinary fits the gang's style just perfect! Dennis(Glenn Howerton)and Dee(Kaitlin Olson)go back and find one of their father Frank's(Danny Devito)ex employees who was swindled out of his savings by Frank. And the plan is to show Frank just how miserable and not liked he is thru the form of this ex employee being the Christmas ghost now talk about a little holiday jeer! And very funny was when Charlie(Charlie Day)remembers his Christmas childhood and the days of Christmas morning when he let all kinds of different Santa's in. As his memory of them all one by one thru the years going up to Mom's room the painful thoughts revealed mother was an escort to Santa's! That was the way Charlie got his presents. Only this triggers Charlie to go off on a Santa in the nearby mall as painful memories bring Charles to be a Christmas ghoul! Funny and gross a crude Christmas! And Mac(Rob McElhenney)tells Charlie of the south Philadelphia tradition of stealing Christmas presents on Christmas morning from various houses! Now talk about the Grinch theme! Yet still holidays are remembered when they find their old Christmas toys. And very funny and gross is seeing at the Christmas party that Dennis and Dee take Frank to as it's comical and strange seeing a naked Danny Devito bust all hot and sweaty thru a company couch! Overall nice Christmas for the gang at least they get together with their usual crude and rude self at Paddy's for Christmas as it ends with a nice holiday Christmas blast giving all a good night. A great and different Christmas special to see a cult favorite for fans of the series to cherish and love and laugh with.

Best Christmas episode I've ever seen

[nukhetagar · 10/10 · 23 December 2021]

The title says it all. The funniest and most twisted Christmas episode I have ever seen. Many laugh out loud moments. It builds slowly but it is worth it. If you want to see one of the craziest episodes of sunny, this is the place to start.

My first visit to Philadelphia.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 9/10 · 24 December 2013]

After having heard about the show for a number of years,but sadly being unable to view it,due to airing on a subscription only TV channel,I decided that it was finally time to take a look at the series.Searching around for DVD's of the show,I was pleasantly surprised to discover a "Christmas Special" DVD of the show being sold on Ebay for a pretty good price,which led to me getting ready to visit Philadelphia for the first time.

The plot:

Getting angry over their dad Frank Reynolds keeping up a tradition of buying the presents that his son and daughter most want for Christmas,and keeping them for himself,Dennis and Dee Reynolds decide that this Christmas,it is time that they show their dad the errors of his ways.Tracking down a former business partner of Frank's called Eugene,Dennis and Dee begin to plan their own "Christmas Carol for their dad.

As Dennis and Dee prepare to give their dad a special X-Mas message,Mac and Charlie, (who both work at a bar called Paddy's with Dennis and Dee) decide to get into the Christmas season by reliving moments of their X- Mas childhood.As Charlie begins to reveal the rather odd family traditions the had,Mac begins to suspect that Charlie's X-Mas's were very far from merry.

View on the special:

For the teleplay of writers Charlie Day/ (who also stars) David Hornsby/Becky Mann/Chadd Grindin and Audra Sielaff gives the special a tremendous acid tongue,with any sense of sentimentally being replace by delightfully deranged festivities which go from one of Paddy's staff members trying to bite the ear off a store Santa Clause,to Frank, (played by an excellent Danny DeVito) tearing himself out of a coach,in a manner that makes him almost appear like a monster from a 30's B- Movie.

Giving this special a great twist of Fantasy,director Fred Savage, (aka:Kevin from The Wonder Years!) shows Franks strange Christmas spirit in a magically macabre claymation sequence,which along with an exploding snow machine that gives the ending a stylish,shoot-out appearance,make this a joyful Philadelphia Christmas.

So many of my favourite scenes are from this episode

[chrisglazzard · 10/10 · 13 July 2020]

So many of my favourite always sunny scenes are from this episode, Truly captures the Christmas Sprit

The best christmas episode ever!

[YbsuhA · 10/10 · 24 December 2021]

This is the best christmas episode I've ever seen. Although it's the show's only christmas-themed episode, it's definitely worth it.

I very much like the two plot lines we get in this episode. Without spoiling anything, Dennis and Dee tries to execute a replica of a very famous christmas movie with Frank, which leads into a ton of memorable scenes and laughs. What I like even more, is Mac and Charlie's story where they find out dark things about their pasts. Charlie's plotline is probably even my favorite plotline of the whole show. At least one of them. That plotline leads to a lot of dark humour, and a ton of blood.

This episode is basically a parody on (or at least compared to) some classic christmas movies, like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Bad Santa, A Christmas Carol, White Christmas and more. Some people mah have a tradition where they watch Christmas movies like Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, The Holiday or/and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (amongst others) every christmas, but to me, it's Always Sunny.

This is the best christmas episode I have seen in my life, and it'll always remain my favorite for the next 1000 years.

One of the very best

[FriedToast02 · 10/10 · 27 July 2022]

Off the bat another Christmas episode I'll be rewatching every year as long as Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas a classic Community episode, as well as Christmas Who? Which is the first sponge bob Christmas episode. Pretty much every South Park Christmas episode season in the first 8 years especially Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo and the Woodland Critters episode which might be my two favorite Christmas episodes (besides this one of course)

Just everything from comedy and Christmas feel is matched perfectly and then of course has that special "sunny ending" that no other show could physically pull off. Some of my all time favorite and iconic moments of the show is from this episode including the Santa brawl at the mall, Frank coming out of the couch naked and the animation or puppet scene with Frank and the song is a classic. Very similar style to Rudolph the red nose reindeer and I just got to appreciate how much work that must had to have been especially with all the ways Frank's puppet gets mutilated and they really knocked it out the park using advantage for the time it's not live action. Mac and charlies traditions are some of the funniest things ever put into a Christmas episode. Mac and his family going into strangers houses and stealing their presents. The reveal of the family at the top of the stairs and young Mac kills me everytime still so much like his adult counterpart. Charlie explaining how all the Santa's would come over and cheer up his mom and his breakdown. The scene of the gang caroling and getting booed and bottles chucked at them gets me every time. Another one of my favorite scenes is Mac apologizing for stealing a robot and not even returning it just for the apology from a kid name Ricky. It's comedy gold. Especially the line "Some people can't be helped". The music throughout the episode is perfect. Also the rock throwing tradition is just the icing on the cake. Charlie and Mac are prolly my favorite parts of the epsiode, but the stuff with Frank, Dennis, Dee, and Frank's old associate is also great, and the ending makes it so much better, with the iconic snow blowing scene right after "Frank has a change of heart" shortly after his close death encounter. If I could rate it an 11 I would I have no negatives. Last thing I want to mention is Frank faking his death just to get the gang down to the hospital is so funny to me and the "yo" when they walk in god this show. There is many top tier episodes but not as many I would rate 11. Really there is no down point all throughout the epsiode and it's longer being a special at about 44 minutes. If you want a happy ending for a Christmas special you are not getting that, but if your a sunny fan its a fantastic ending. 11/10. I don't think there is another episode of the show with so many iconic moments as a fan this is one I throw on all year long.

*Edit- this is also a great Charlie and Mac episode. I miss these two paired up like in "Mac and Charlie White Trash", "Mac and Charlie die", and this episode. There's others but it's all mostly in the earlier seasons.

The Vidiot Reviews...

[capone666 · 9/10 · 8 December 2016]

A Very Sunny Christmas

Christmas is that special time of year when happy and depressed people can both drink together in excess.

Fortunately, the friends in this comedy own a tavern.

The immoral proprietors of a dive bar in Philly, Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and his sister Dee (Kaitlin Olson), exact Dickensian revenge on their corrupt father, Frank (Danny DeVito), who tricks them out of great gifts every year, by having an old business partner of his haunt him.

Meanwhile, the other titleholders, Charlie (Charlie Day) and Mack (Rob McElhenney), reminisce over childhood memories resulting in some shocking revelations about both of their family Christmas traditions.

An extended episode of the cult comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that's been rebranded a Christmas special, this twisted seasonal treat is just as outrageously hilarious as the long-running series that requires annual viewing while intoxicated.

Besides, without alcohol Christmas would just be some tawdry display of commercialism.

Green Light

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Grand Christmas special

[anselmdaniel · 8/10 · 29 July 2023]

This review contains spoilers

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's season six finale episode is entitled "A Very Sunny Christmas". The gang approach Christmas tradition through radically different angles.

The finale of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's sixth season is excellent. This episode is a two-part episode that has the gang encounter Christmas through radically different lenses. The episode had Dee and Dennis both approaching Frank and trying to get him to change for their own selfishness. Charlie and Mac both have different experiences that their family went through for Christmas. This episode has great moments with the gang and even a quick clip of Frank as he has a cartoon episode with Christmas.

I would recommend "A Very Sunny Christmas".

Grade: A

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season Six

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season six is a solid season of the situational comedy television show. This season does not have the insane stand out episodes that I enjoyed in season four but this is a solid season. There is a fun two parter episode in the opening part of the season where Dennis gets married but then decides to divorce. Likewise Dee's pregnancy is used to funny clips in this season as she manipulates the gang into trying to find out who had impregnated her.

I would recommend the sixth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Grade: B.

Okay Christmas special, fans of the show will enjoy it

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 12 February 2020]

"A Very Sunny Christmas" is a Christmas special from the year 2009 that is ppart of the long-running (still until today a decade later) television show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". It runs for as long as two episodes basically and shows us ho the gang spends the holidays. And we find out a lot about the past and about the now actually. The director is Fred Savage, a really successful child actor back in the day. I don't need to say too much about the cast, do I? It's the same folks like for the show and the one most memorable to me is probably Danny DeVito. Probably also to most others. he is the big star here. Now, as for this specific special, of course if you know the show, you will know they will be as shameless as always with their comedy and there are no taboos. The best example is when two guys talk about how they spent Christmas with their families back when they were young and while one of them did not realize that they were burgling houses and stealing presents from others, the other did not realize that the Santa Clauses coming to see his mom had a special gift in mind. She was a prostitute basically. I mean there must be something wrong if a midget is walking around in your kitchen with his pants down, even if he is wearing an Elf costume. Frank (DeVito) gets his moments too shine again too. be it the big yellow sports car early on that another character as dreaming of and that he got to make the other character feel bad (not to give it to him) or when he fakes his death in order to get the gang to the hospital. I mean in another film it could be because he feels lonely and wants to see them and he is so desperate or because it is really emotional and he is severely injured, but of course this is "Always Sunny" (as the fans call it I believe, so none of it is true and he keeps insulting them and they keep insulting him (also before they leave the room), but you don't feel bad or anything. Aside from that, we get a nice little animated sequence that shows us what the characters would look like in a cartoon world and we also get a nice little "Christmas Story" reference and costume involving an old business partner of Frank, but this was really the best, almost only good moment about this whole story. The smoke and how he thinks there is a fire and he is about to destroy the window and then he is about to attack the old man because he actually thinks he is a ghost and so on. As always, with this series, nothing really goes as it is planned admittedly and I know fans love the show for that. That in the end they still somehow manage to bring their own specific brand of order to all the chaos, even if it seems impossible. Well, the idea here is that there is a bit of a lesson taught that it is about appreciating the holidays with your loved ones now and not really think about the past and what could have gone wring there. I did not think it was working too well. Leave these to South Park, folks. I personally would not say I am a huge fan of this show, but I have seen a couple seasons and I liked it overall. Same for this Christmas special. I cannot be too enthusiastic about it, but it had its funny moments and is worth checking for the holidays for sure. I give it a thumbs-up.