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A cream bungalow with a single wreath faces a green house covered in multicoloured Christmas lights, with extension cables crossing the snowy road between them.

Essential Christmas · 2006

Deck the Halls

75/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 75 ↓
UK certificate Parental Guidance93 min
Comedy · Family

A decorating feud stretched to feature length, and the stretch shows.

On Prime Video · UK subscription →
Plan this film night ↓Can the kids watch? ↓
Explore this film 9 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas all the way through.

Two paper elves inspect miniature snowy houses, one covered in colourful lights and the other with a single wreath, with coiled cables across their model street.

A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas drives it, firmly.25/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for effectively all of it.20/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details8 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.12/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: substantially.15/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionNiche at Christmas (under 25,000).3/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

74/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Mixed in tone. Mild threat. A happy ending.

How we score →
What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →
Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked

Prime Video

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Apple TV

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Rakuten TV

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Sky Store

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Deck the Halls · Rental and purchase cost extra, separately from membership.

Christmas on telly? Channel 4 streaming, free with ads. A Film4 New Year's Eve airing is listed but single-source and undated. No broadcast date is confirmed here; a past tradition isn’t tonight’s TV listing.

As an Amazon Associate, Cine Claus earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through a link helps pay for the site - it never changes a score.

Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About Deck the Halls

A fussy small-town optometrist who runs his community's Christmas traditions is thrown when a loud, restless newcomer moves in opposite and sets out to build the brightest house display anyone has ever seen. The rivalry escalates into sabotage that drags in both families, until the wives have had enough.

The CineClaus verdict

A decorating feud stretched to feature length, and the stretch shows.

A fussy small-town optometrist meets a loud newcomer set on building the brightest house display anyone has seen, and the sabotage escalates from there. Christmas does real work: it is the thing they are fighting over.

But the rivalry stays mean for so long that the reconciliation arrives unearned, and the wives, who call time on it, are the only adults in the film. The live nativity, camel included, is the best thing in it.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

PG

Our take: rated PG. Slapstick sabotage and plenty of shouting between grown men, with no real threat. Fine for most sevens and up.

BBFC advice: Contains mild innuendo and language.

Content advice & accessibility
Where the advice comes from
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance
Editorial, separate from the official PG certificate, and never looser than it.
The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order
Head and shoulders photograph of Matthew Broderick in round tortoiseshell glasses, a dark jacket and a green striped shirt with a green patterned tie.Matthew Broderickas Steve Finch
Danny DeVito in a purple shirt and dark-framed glasses, seated outdoors and looking to one side.Danny DeVitoas Buddy Hall
Close photograph of a woman with long dark hair pulled back, wearing a pale blue scarf, outdoors in a dry landscape.Kristin Davisas Kelly Finch
Close photograph of Alia Shawkat smiling and looking to one side, with shoulder-length dark hair and a green knit zip-neck top.Alia Shawkatas Madison Finch

Behind the camera

Directed by
John Whitesell
Original score
George S. Clinton
Writing & production credits
Producers
Michael Costigan
Arnon Milchan
John Whitesell
Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Matthew Broderick · Library of Congress Life · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC0 (opens in a new tab).

Danny DeVito · Andre Manoel · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Kristin Chenoweth · Gage Skidmore · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Kristin Davis · Oxfam East Africa · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Alia Shawkat · Timelessblue · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Keep the Christmas feeling

Music & soundtrack

That tune you recognised. That score you loved. Take a little of the film into the rest of your Christmas.

Every track on the soundtrack album, in album order.

Behind the music. George S. Clinton composed the score.

Explore George S. Clinton →
About this music list

These are the songs and soundtrack we hold for the film, not a complete cue sheet, and they give no scene timings. Album track lists and durations come from MusicBrainz. Spotify and Apple Music links open the matched recordings; links marked Search open a search on that service.

wikidata.org ↗ (opens in a new tab) MusicBrainz ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind Deck the Halls. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapVancouver, British Columbia

© OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in a new tab)

Open larger map ↗ (OpenStreetMap, opens in a new tab)

Map shows the selected place. Drag to explore; use + and − to zoom.

Choose your next scene

2 places from Deck the Halls

There’s more behind the film.
Explore the next place.

Location sources

Vancouver, British Columbia · wikidata.org (opens in a new tab)

Coquitlam, British Columbia · wikidata.org (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more Deck the Halls

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

Two houses built under a giant roof to fake winter

The production built the two rival houses under a temporary shelter roughly 260 feet long. That let the crew create winter conditions and film the night scenes during the day, whatever the Canadian summer weather was doing outside.

Read the story

Source: Sprung project page ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

A real menagerie for the live nativity

The live nativity scene used a camel, a cow, a donkey, a goat and sheep, with snow blown in by a fan. The animal work was overseen on set, according to the American Humane production record.

Read the story

Source: American Humane ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

Releases and certificates
: In cinemas (US).
: In cinemas. UK cinema release, nine days after the US opening.
Sources & a note on these facts

Each production story is linked to its source, in our own words. Ending details stay behind a spoiler reveal.

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Elsewhere on CineClaus

More places to find Deck the Halls, and a few good reasons to keep exploring.

In this collection

Best family Christmas films

Deck the Halls is in this collection

Explore the collection
Stay for another story.All collections · The Christmas Edit