With parties and gifting plus decadent meals and an abundance of sweet treats, the holiday season is a time of indulgence. And with that comes a plethora of beer, wine, and cocktails to keep the celebrations going. Hollywood knows this, which is why most holiday movies have at least one scene where alcohol plays a starring role, be it at a bar, a Christmas party, or the home.
Some of these moments are more memorable than others, which is why we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorites. From Buddy the Elf inebriated off maple syrup whiskey in the Empire State Building’s mailroom to Cameron Diaz drunkenly belting The Killers in “The Holiday,” here are six of the best drinking moments in popular Christmas movies.
‘A Christmas Story’ (1983)
This 1983 classic is easily one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. There’s a multitude of indelible moments in the film, like Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) washing his mouth out with soap, Flick’s (Scott Schwartz) tongue adhering to the frozen flagpole, and the infamous leg lamp. But one of the most memorable drinking moments from the film arrives on Christmas morning as the children finish opening their gifts. Just before Ralphie is finally gifted his Red Ryder BB gun, the camera pans to the child sitting between his mother (Melinda Dillon) and father (Darren McGavin) on the couch as the patriarch sips noisily from a near-empty glass of red wine.
“You know, this wine’s not bad. It’s not good, either,” Old Man Parker famously says before turning to Ralphie and asking if he wants a sip. “No, you don’t,” his mother remarks when Ralphie promptly says yes and reaches for the glass. Based on Old Man Parker’s slurring — and the fact that he offers his 9-year-old son a sip — it’s safe to assume the glass of wine in hand isn’t his first of the day. Impressive considering it’s barely even mid-morning when the scene takes place.
‘Bad Santa’ (2003)
There are feel-good, family-friendly Christmas movies like “A Christmas Story,” and then there’s “Bad Santa.” The debaucherous film made its debut in 2003 and stars Billy Bob Thornton as Willie T. Stokes, a drunken criminal who impersonates a mall Santa every year to rob a safe with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox), a mall elf. Naturally, things go horribly wrong for the duo, especially because Stokes is wildly intoxicated for basically the entire movie. One particular moment stands out among the rest, though, and it happens, of course, in front of dozens of children waiting patiently to meet Saint Nick.
Stokes rides up the mall escalator, clearly passed out, holding a broken bottle in one of his hands as he slouches against the railing. Jerking awake at the top, he stumbles over to the holiday display, crashing into it and knocking over the entire thing before destroying a decorative donkey by repeatedly hitting it. At the end of it all, he conks back out in the oversized mall Santa chair.
It’s a shocking scene, made even more so when you learn that Thornton was actually drunk during filming. “I drank about three glasses of red wine for breakfast. … Then I switched over to vodka and cranberry juice, and then I had a few Bud Lights,” he recalled in a 2020 interview with People TV. “By the time I got to that scene, I barely knew I was in a movie.”
‘Elf’ (2003)
Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Buddy the Elf is a performance that will go down in history. With his bumbling, fumbling ways, the character is instantly lovable, with a child-like wonder that makes every other adult in the film seem like a scrooge. This dichotomy between Buddy and the rest of the adults is most apparent about halfway through the film when Buddy is sent down to the Empire State Building’s mailroom while his father Walter (James Caan) works upstairs. There, he’s introduced to whiskey for the first time, chugging it down in his coffee under the impression that it’s part of his favorite food group, maple syrup.
Never having had alcohol before, Buddy becomes extremely intoxicated and proceeds to dive into a deep conversation about life with a notably “26-year-old” mailroom employee (Mark Acheson) while lying in the mail bins. Afterwards, Buddy launches into a full, choreographed dance routine to “Whoomp! (There It Is)” atop the tables while the rest of the staff watches and cheers him on. It lands him in jail, but it’s probably the most fun depiction of a mailroom we’ve seen.
‘Love Actually’ (2003)
The holidays can be a lonely time of year, and there are few festive films that depict this melancholy as well as “Love Actually.” The 2003 movie follows nine separate but overlapping storylines, one of which revolves around washed-up rock star Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his loyal manager Joe, nicknamed Chubs (Gregor Fisher). As Christmas Eve rolls around and everyone’s romantic connections come to fruition, we see Chubs at home on his couch alone drinking Bollinger and Baileys with what appears to be a Zima also sitting on the coffee table before him. It’s a depressing, if not relatable, scene that luckily becomes much less somber when Billy shows up at his door with a bottle of whiskey in hand.
Having realized the true meaning of Christmas — spending time with people you love — Billy ditches a party at Elton John’s house to profess his love for his manager. “It’s a terrible mistake, Chubs,” he says. “But you turned out to be the f*cking love of my life.” After the somewhat awkward confession, Billy suggests the two get drunk — whether on the Bollinger, Bailey’s, Zima, or whiskey, we’ll never know.
‘The Holiday’ (2006)
Directed by Nancy Meyers, “The Holiday” is about Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet), two women who swap their respective Hollywood and English countryside homes to grieve romantic relationships at Christmastime. As Amanda grows accustomed to the quaint, snowy English village, she takes a treacherous drive down the wrong side of the road and decides she needs a drink. She heads to the shop, cracks open a bottle of wine, and starts perusing the aisles for junk food as she drinks straight from the bottle. Heading home with her haul (after the cashier incorrectly assumes she’s having a party), Amanda continues sipping her wine tucked in bed among a sea of snacks then realizes she is too cold.
What happens next is one of the most legendary moments from the 2006 classic. After trekking downstairs to light a fire and explore the cottage a bit, a tipsy Amanda loads “Hot Fuss” by The Killers into the CD player and proceeds to scream-sing “Mr. Brightside” — all with a glass of red in hand. Iconic.
‘A Very Murray Christmas’ (2015)
Netflix’s 2015 Christmas musical “A Very Murray Christmas” is a star-studded special that serves as a love letter to both the holiday season and NYC’s historic Carlyle Hotel, home to the beloved Bemelmans Bar. After a snowstorm shuts down the city, Bill Murray faces the prospect of putting on a live Christmas show to a minuscule audience with none of the star power he promised there to film with him. Over the course of the hour-long comedy-musical, seemingly nothing goes according to plan, but the alcohol keeps flowing.
There are Paul Shaffer and Bill Murray sipping on snifters of Cognac while Shaffer plays the piano and Murray and a waitress (Jenny Lewis) sing “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” A Champagne cart roves through the bar, serving the hodgepodge of people (mostly staff) flutes of Ruinart as they sing carols. The Lounge Singer (Maya Rudolph) pours her entire drink — something called a “Soiled Kimono” — down Elliot the Groom’s (Jason Schwartzman) throat before launching into a rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Then there are tequila shots, which cause Murray to fall asleep and wind up in a dreamscape where he and Miley Cyrus sing “Sleigh Ride” while George Clooney stirs Martinis atop an ivory piano. Not a bad way to spend a Christmas Eve — even if it’s all happening in your head.
