Holiday travel is never fun, but if you’re an adult and something goes wrong, at least you can take action: cancel a flight, book a hotel, or rent a car.

But what happens if you're a kid in that situation? An airport official herds you off to a room for “Unaccompanied Minors” and tells you to stay there all night with a bunch of other kids you've never met. We learn all that in this movie, directed by Paul Feig (TV’s Freaks and Geeks and The Office). It plays like an updated, PG version of The Breakfast Club.

It’s Christmas Eve and a huge blizzard has shut down the airport, stranding travelers. En route to their dad’s house, two unaccompanied minors, Spencer (Dyllan Christopher), and his little sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana), are ushered to an area for parent-free kids. It’s basically a holding cell for stranded kids from all over the country.

And it’s nuts in there! Dodging flying cupcakes and juice boxes, Spencer makes a run for freedom along with four other kids, who couldn’t be more different if they tried: spoiled rich girl Grace (Gina Mantegna); trailer-park tomboy Donna (Quinn Shephard); academic overachiever Charlie (Tyler James Christopher from Everybody Hates Chris); and comic-book geek Timothy “Beef” Wellington (Brett Kelly from Bad Santa).

Not only that – they have to out-maneuver the airport’s disgruntled Passenger Relations Manager, Oliver Porter (Lewis Black from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart), who’s not a family-oriented guy. He’s divorced, miserable and lives by himself. All he wants is a vacation, but instead he’s stranded in an airport with dozens of pesky kids.

Wilmer Valderrama (Fez on That 70’s Show) is Oliver’s reluctant assistant Zach. He’s really just a big kid himself, and he learns something important while he’s chasing after the kids.

Meanwhile, Katherine and the other minors are herded to a nearby hotel to wait out the storm. Determined to reunite with his little sister and give her a good Christmas, Spencer enlists the help of his kid-posse to make it happen.

In the process, there’s plenty of slapstick action with the kids rampaging through baggage chutes, rummaging around unclaimed luggage, and crawling through an airduct (a scene straight out of The Breakfast Club!). They turn Christmas at the airport into utter chaos and prove that the holidays aren’t about where you are, but who you’re with!

PRESCHOOLERS (ages 2-5): Although little ones will laugh at all the physical comedy in this movie, it’s really not for them. The kids are bratty and disrespectful to the adults. In one scene, a kid burps and the other kids clap. A kid is punched in the groin and says, “That’s gonna hurt when I pee.” A kid talks back to Santa, calls him “fat boy,” and then punches him. Not exactly great examples for impressionable preschoolers! Gentler holiday movies for this age group: Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (a 50th Birthday Deluxe Remastered Edition was recently released).

GRADE-SCHOOLERS (ages 6-10): All the things mentioned in the Preschooler section apply here, too. The kids aren’t great role models at the beginning of the movie, but by the end, there is a good takeaway message: work together, don’t judge others because they’re different, and accept people for who they are. Grade-schoolers will also love the physical comedy in this movie, which includes a wild chase scene down a snowy hillside, involving a canoe, surfboard, tire, and grill-top.

TWEEN/TEEN (ages 11+): Although this movie is mainly geared for kids 9 to 14, there are some good lessons for older teens, too. The kids are joined together by the fact that most of them are products of divorced parents, resulting in a few soul-searching scenes. Spencer is constantly pressured by his mom, and he’s not happy about lugging his little sister around but he wants her to have a good Christmas. Donna is tough and isolated because her parents were never really nice to her. Grace is 14 going on 30, always flirting with every guy who comes along. And Charlie is the Ivy League-bound data fiend. Or…is he…? This movie has plenty to offer teens – like looking beyond the cliques and seeing the real people inside.

Jane Louise Boursaw is a freelance journalist specializing in the movie and television industries.