While the tunes were familiar classics like “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night,” the lyrics on the cue cards they had to read were completely nonsensical. “Jingle Bells” became a song about sniffing an old man named Tom, while “Silent Night” was the story of a toad hopping down a dirt road.
The best of the three carols, though, they saved for last. While sniffing old men and toads on roads might be slightly humorous, “Deck the Halls” with the lyrics “squeeze the cheese and poke the pony,” is a visual delight.
The bit could have been more fun if it had been longer, had more clever nonsense lyrics or if they’d been forced to come up with their own lyrics on the fly incorporating key words like “cheese” and “pony.”
Witherspoon and Fallon are both quick-witted and sharp, so they’d have probably had little trouble making up their own random carols.
Reese Witherspoon can be seen in “Wild,” in theaters Friday, Dec. 5. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
19 Biggest Box-Office Bombs and Bummers in 2014: From 'The Giver' to 'Winter's Tale' (Photos)
Kellan Lutz starred in the first of this year's two movies starring the Greek hero, "The Legend of Hercules." The $8.8 million January opening weekend for the $70 million sword-and-sandals epic was no toga party. It finished with $61 million worldwide, well under the $243 million that Paramount's "Hercules," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, managed months later for Paramount.
Lionsgate
Even Aaron Eckhart's world-class abs couldn't bring the action horror film "I, Frankenstein" to life. It cost $65 million to make but opened to $8.6 million in January and couldn't crack $20 million domestically for Lionsgate.
Lionsgate
Colin Farrell and his horse never got out of the gate in the Akiva Goldsmith romance "Winter's Tale." Its production budget was $60 million and it opened to less than $10 million over the four-day Presidents Day weekend for Warner Bros. and mustered just $30 million domestically.
Warner Bros.
"They Suck at School" was the tagline for "Vampire Academy," the Mark Winters-directed adaptation of Richelle Mead's young adult fantasy novel. Ditto the box office: Its $3.9 million February debut for the Weinstein Company was the 11th-worst ever for a release on more than 2,500 screens, and it ended with $15.3 million worldwide.
The Weinstein Company
Paul W.S. Anderson's volcano saga "Pompeii" blew in February, and Kiefer Sutherland, Kit Harrington and Emily Browning couldn't save it. It had a $100 million production budget and opened to just $10 million on its way to a tepid $23 million domestic haul for Sony's TriStar.
TriStar
Maybe Madea would have helped? “Tyler Perry‘s The Single Moms Club,” the mogul's swan song with distributor Lionsgate, opened in March with $8.3 million, the worst debut of the prolific directing career of Perry, who is getting out of the movie biz for now to focus on his TV work at the OWN Network.
Lionsgate
The $5.2 million March debut of Open Road's action thriller "Sabotage" was star Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst opening in nearly three decades.
Open Road
"Haunted House 2" opened in April to $8.8 million and topped out at $17.3 million domestically -- less than the original film made in its first weekend for Open Road.
Open Road
The British horror film "The Quiet Ones" scared up just $8.5 million in its April opening for Lionsgate, on its way to a feeble $17.8 million global total.
Lionsgate
"Mom's Night Out," a faith-based comedy starring Patricia Heaton, couldn't cash in on the boom for Christian movies and topped out with $10 million in May for Sony TriStar.
TriStar
The James Brown biopic "Get On Up" had good reviews and a strong lead performance from Chadwick Boseman, but couldn't hit the high notes at the box office and finished with just $31 million for Universal.
Universal
A leaked version of a hacked copy of "Expendables 3" hitting the Internet weeks before its opening didn't help, but Sly Stallone's over-the-hill gang may have been hurt as much by franchise fatigue. The $190 million action sequel shot blanks in its $15.8 million August opening, and couldn't crack $40 million domestically.
Lionsgate
Seth MacFarlane's comedy Western "A Million Ways to Die in the West" got bucked at the box office, debuting with $16.7 million in May and topping out with $86 million worldwide for Universal. "Ted 2" anyone?
Universal
"The Giver" brought in an $45 million domestically in August for the Weinstein Company and another $22 million abroad, but those numbers were disappointing given the popularity of Lois Lowry's young adult bestseller.
Weinstein Company
Liam Neeson's "A Walk Among Tombstones" came out in one week before Denzel Washington's "The Equalizer," another R-rated action tale, and it was no contest at the box office. "Tombstones" topped out with $53 million worldwide in September, while Sony's "The Equalizer" is headed for $200 million.
Universal
After a heavenly start to the year, the market for faith-based movies went to hell. Freestyle Releasing's "The Identical," which starred Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd, delivered a dismal $1.5 million in its September debut and was out of theaters two weeks later.
Freestyle Releasing
The Nicholas Sparks adaptation "The Best of Me" has brought in just $25 million since opening in October for Relativity Media, making it by far the lowest-grossing film adaptation of the famed romance novelist's books.
Relativity Media
Audiences failed to connect with Paramount's "Men, Women & Children," writer-director Jason Reitman's take on technology affecting our lives. It opened to an embarrassing $306,367 from 617 theaters in October and grossed just $705,908 before being yanked from theaters.
Paramount
The sci-fi tale "Transcendence" marked the fourth box-office bomb in a row for Johnny Depp, on the heels of "The Lone Ranger," "Dark Shadows" and "Rum Diaries." "Transcendence" opened to $10.8 million in April and topped out at $23 million domestically for Warner Bros., not enough given its $100 million production budget.
Warner Bros.
1 of 19
Cameron Diaz, Johnny Depp, Seth MacFarlane and Sly Stallone all had movies that missed the mark at the multiplexes
Kellan Lutz starred in the first of this year's two movies starring the Greek hero, "The Legend of Hercules." The $8.8 million January opening weekend for the $70 million sword-and-sandals epic was no toga party. It finished with $61 million worldwide, well under the $243 million that Paramount's "Hercules," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, managed months later for Paramount.
Lionsgate
Lionsgate
