Home by Christmas (2006)

The Christmas movie watching continues. Just finished "Home By Christmas" which stars Linda Hamilton. In this film Linda plays Julie Bedford (Surely Named After the town Bedford Falls from"It's a Wonderful Life). In this film in a short order a woman finds out that her husbands is cheating. She dumps him and after a series of misfortunes she ends up homeless. She is now one of the invisible people that all of us avoid when we see them on the street. Not letting her situation drag her down too much she hatches a plan to get herself back on her feet. Now what I liked about this film is that you (The Audience) see that you must count your blessings. Be grateful for what you have and not what you don't. If you like Christmas movies the film is worth seeking out. I will say the surprise of this film was an actor I never herd of before. His name is Rob Stewart and he is very charming. Made for Lifetime Television it most likely will repeat in November and December. It is also available on DVD at Amazon. It is part of a DVD package of 12 movies of Christmas.

No one dies, so the movie doesn't get too gloomy; yet it contains a lot of drama that you can relate to. The hospital, the insurance company, the police, and the ex-husband are no help at all, so the leading lady has to start over from scratch. It has a happy holiday ending and the characters' willingness to help those in need is in the holiday spirit. It doesn't hurt that the movie has Rob Stewart - the handsome guy who played Roan in Nikita and Nick in The Good Witch's Garden. He is the best actor in the movie, playing his character with a calm, friendly attitude and a subtle optimism that he tries to hide from his crush. The actor who plays the ex-husband has a calm demeanor too, but it fittingly has a cold and indifferent feel.

If you love Christmas movies like I do, this is one of the best. It's a feel good movie with an interesting story. Linda Hamilton plays Julie, whose husband leaves her for a younger woman. Over time she looses everything and is forced to live in her car. Her daughter goes overseas for extended schooling but makes the decision to come home for Christmas. Now Julie scrabbles to find a place for both of them to spend the Holidays together. Julie makes new friends and slowly gets back on her feet. Her friend Max is a great character and they hep each other out. Julie's new relationship with Selma, a woman who has been in the same homeless situation, proves to be her lifesaver. It's a riches-to-rags-to-riches story, one of my favorites concepts especially during the holidays.

If you start to watch this movie and think about axing it within the first 15 minutes (like I did)... please give this movie a chance to redeem itself. Trust me, it does. By the last quarter of the movie, I was loving it. The first third of the movie is almost unbearable, acting mostly but even script writing is almost absurd... but if you bear through it to get to the the second-act, you start to really relate to the heroine of the movie and feel her pain. Even what's happened to her up to that point seem almost believable, despite the first act. Even in desperate times during life, wonderful people seem to appear out of the woodwork, as in this movie and it really makes you believe in something wonderful, especially at Christmas time. I really ended up enjoying this movie, even though I almost gave-up on it early on. In the end I loved it.