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Andrea Roth, Howard Hesseman, Jason Spevack, Yannick Bisson, Karen LeBlanc, Daniel Fathers, Joyce Gordon, Mark Wilson, Carla Collins, Joe Flaherty

Shannon (Andrea Roth) is a single mom who has lost both her parents. She’s a limo driver and raising her little boy Trevor (Jason Spevack). Fred Nickells (Howard Hesseman) is a loopy elderly businessman who rents Shannon’s limo and has her drive him around all day long buying out hot dog carts to feed everyone for free, passing out money, and wishing everyone a merry christmas. Peter Archer (Yannick Bisson) is a TV reporter who catches word of the stranger giving away money and begins following the limo around to find out why and to file an interesting story. Nobody can figure out the crazy man’s motive and whether he’s actually dangerous or something. But Mr. Nickells has an ulterior motive and an mysterious story to tell if anyone will take the time to listen to what he has to say.

Steve Guttenberg, Crystal Bernard, Dominic Scott Kay, Armin Shimerman, John Wheeler, Marcia Ann Burrs, Mariette Hartley

Nick (Steve Guttenberg) and Beth (Crystal Bernard) met last year when Nick took over the family business of delivering presents all over the world on Christmas Eve. They planned to get married, but were trying to hold the perfect wedding, and with their busy schedule, they kept putting it off. Now Nick finds out that Christmas is doomed without a Mrs. Claus, and the wedding must take place before Dec 24th or else. There’s not much time, so they pop down to Beth’s Mom, Joanna’s (Mariette Hartley) place to get her help to set it up. Turns out though that Joanna is an 11 on the 1-10 scale of unbelievers! Nothing’s going right, and even Beth’s ex boyfriend Mark (Roark Chitchlow) shows up to try to mess things up. But when the ex-Santas, Nick Sr. (John Wheeler) and Mrs Claus (Marcia Ann Burrs) meet Joanna’s friends and family, everything is a big mess. Can Nick make everything right before Christmas Eve?

Madeleine Stowe, James Remar, Ian Ziering, Tori Barban, Phillip Jarrett, Jayne Eastwood, Devon Weigel, Rebecca Gibson

Patty Addison (Madeleine Stow) is a hard working social worker finding foster homes with children that have no place to stay. She recently suffered the loss of her son, but on Christmas Eve, a young single Mom is killed on her way to work and her daughter Emily (Tori Barban) has nowhere to go. Patty tries to find her a foster home, but none of the families want to take her in, so Patty has no choice to bring her home to stay with her in the meantime. Patty’s marriage is on the rocks, and her husband, an airline pilot, is always away. Mostly it’s grief over the loss of their son, but each deals with it in a different way. As time passes, Emily makes a great impression on the couple and is having a positive effect on him. Meanwhile, at the same time, Dr Andrews (Ian Ziering) is searching desperately for the parents of a young man who died in his ER.

This is one of those kinds of movies where several different stories intersect in the end and everything fits together nicely. It’s a little heavy with plenty of sorrow to go around, but it all rolls around the right way in the end. I was not overly fond of this film. It was a little too intense for me, I guess. There are stories of Christmas tragedies that are not so depressing but I guess this works for some people. I am not sure what the “Christmas Hope” is all about, but I guess it that the little girl wished her mother who died in a traffic accident at the beginning of the movie would come back to her for Christmas. Well, I guess she did in a way we would never expect due to a series of coincidences, but that’s what the whole movie is about. Making you wonder how they’ll tie it all together, and then they do.

Harley Jane Kozak, jamey Sheridan, Ethan Embry, Kevin Nealon, Thora Birch, Andrea Martin, Lauren Bacall, Leslie Nielsen

This is a romantic Christmas comedy about two children in New York City who are depressed because their parents have divorced. But Hallie (Thora Birch), the little girl asks Santa for her Christmas wish that her parents get married again, she forgot to specify that they marry each other. When Hallie overhears Mom planning to remarry to Tony (Kevin Nealon) they freak out and plan an elaborate scheme to kidnap Tony and to force their parents to spend Christmas together in the hopes that they’ll fall in love all over again.

K.C. Clyde, Kari Hawker, Bruce Davison

Ashley (Kari Hawker) has been a loner all her life. She doesn’t get too close to anyone. But this Christmas she is unable to find a job and all the Christmas spirit stuff just makes her more sad and alone with just her dog, Dash. But her neighbor Nick Johnson (Bruce Davison) knows what she needs. He offers her a job as an assistant in his work helping the needy, but the rub is that she must keep Nick’s work secret and cannot tell anyone who the Secret Santa is. Will (K.C. Clyde) is a writer for newspaper who stumbles onto the secret, and in the process falls for Ashley. When Ashley learns Nick is fighting cancer, and wants to turn the business of helping others over to her, she must decide whether or not to trust Will or not.

Oh brother! Another angel from heaven on Earth to bring joy to the inhabitants of this poor world. No! This film surprisingly isn’t like that at all. Nick is human enough, and has years of regrets of some bad mistakes he made early in his career when he made a lot of money. Now, unable to make it up, he is just a kind person who wants to do good. Nick understands the truth of how to really help people without looking for the glory. His final gift is to encourage Ashley to open up and find some happiness in her life.

This is a romantic Christmas story with a lot going for it. It’s not sappy, and it’s not preachy, two things that can make the movie a little too syrupy. This, instead, is just very truthful and touching on a very simple level, with a great romance tossed in for good measure. It’s available on NetFlix “Watch Instantly” as well as shown on TV this (and every) season. Give it a shot if you need a pick me up for the holidays.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog