The Dixie Chicks are touring Texas in summer 2016.
Photo by Nadine Ljewere
The Dixie Chicks have announced a 41 city North American tour in 2016, their first tour in 10 years and one that will include stops in three different Texas cities.
The tour, which will first go to 13 European cities, will kick off on June 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Chicks will make their way to Texas in the heat of August, visiting Dallas on August 5 before going to Houston on August 6 and Austin on August 7.
The one-time massively popular country music trio, which started in Dallas in 1989, was virtually abandoned by country radio after lead singer Natalie Maines said the group was "ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" in 2003. The Dixie Chicks went on to release a highly acclaimed album, Taking the Long Way, that won five Grammy Awards, including three for the defiant single, "Not Ready to Make Nice."
In the 10 years since the Chicks last toured, sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison released two albums as the duo Courtyard Hounds, while Maines released the solo album Mother in 2013. There's no word yet if the 2016 tour will be accompanied by a new album, although the group has been hinting at the possibility.
Tickets for all stops on the tour will be available in a presale on November 17. The public on-sale date for the Dallas stop is November 21, while Houston and Austin go on sale to the public on November 20.
Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.
That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.
Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.
Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.
The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.
The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.
Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.
Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.
