A Holiday to Remember (1995)

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THAT PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.This is what I call a "Kitchen Sink Christmas Movie". It has everything. A single woman. An unhappy teen. An Orphan. Snow. A reignited former flame. However the best thing it does have is a very likable lead that lifts the film up from the depths of melodrama. In this film it's Christmastime, Carolyn (Connie Sellecca) leaves the big city for her childhood village in the forest, with her daughter Jordy (Asia Vieira) in tow. Along the way, Carolyn meets the ex-fiancé (Randy Travis) she left at the altar years before, as well as a lost boy she'd like to adopt, though Jordy is unenthusiastic.The film is never boring but it is predictable. I wish the story could of had some surprises. Worth watching ONCE!

Connie Sellecca plays a PhD.-holding psychiatrist who divorces her philandering husband and moves with her daughter to her family homestead in South Carolina, which has been sitting abandoned, presumably for years. Naturally, she encounters the boy next door (Randy Travis, from the next farm over), whom she left standing at the altar nearly two decades before.There's nothing particularly wrong with the script or the acting. The faults of this film are in the casting and execution. I like both Travis and Sellecca, but have trouble seeing them as a couple. Indeed, Ms. Sellecca's appearance in this film was a prime reason for watching, but what we have here constitutes a serious flaw in the pairing of romantic leads.Given that the rest of the cast seems fine for a film that is set in the rural south, one is sad to report that Ms. Sellecca seems to be the one miscast, as throughout the film, she appears from both nature and design to have just stepped off the pages of Vogue. Can you picture a high-tone model or a society chic, dressed in fashions and jewels, functioning comfortably in a dilapidated house in farmland? And then there are the little things. Once a major flaw appears, one goes on alert looking for others. Start with the farmhouse.When Sellecca's character and her daughter arrive, the first thing we see on a clear day is water dripping from a leaky roof into a half-full washtub. So who's been in there recently to manage the tub? Next we have a working wall phone. Who bothers to pay monthly phone bills for an abandoned house? Or maybe she called ahead to have it hooked up…we don't know.But wait, there's hope. Mr. Travis, whose character is now the local sheriff, mayor, and all-around Mr. Fixit, has been dating a local social worker who wants to marry him. They appear to be well-matched. In the end, will he do the right thing and make her an honest woman, or will he jump the shark to hook back up with his long-lost love? The 90 minutes of suspense killed my rating of this supposed-to-be feel-good film. To me, this was a holiday movie to forget.

Carolyn (Connie Selleca) has just gone through an extremely painful divorce. A therapist who has been residing in Los Angeles, with her pre-teen daughter Jordy, Carolyn is anxious to move on. Therefore, she tells her only child that they will be leaving SoCal and moving back to Mayville, North Carolina, her hometown. Jordy is less than thrilled. When the two females arrive, their house, once Carolyn's grandma's abode, is in need of many repairs. Not only that, Carolyn soon runs into a former flame, Clay (Randy Travis) whom she left at the alter years ago. He's still mad as a hornet. But, his loving aunt (Rue McClanahan) is delighted to see Carolyn and meet Jordy. One night, hearing noises, Carolyn discovers that a young, homeless boy is living in her basement! He won't tell anyone where he is from or who his parents are. Soon, Carolyn is befriending the little lad, much to the chagrin of the town's social worker, who also happens to have her eye on Clay. With a possible romantic triangle brewing, two energetic kids, a Christmas pageant, and more, what will happen next in Mayville? This is a darling holiday winner that fans of romantic comedy will take to like a duck to water. It has comedy, sparring flames, old biddies and cute kids, as well as good sets, costumes, a clever script and a zesty direction. Looking for a mood setter to re-capture the holiday spirit? Remember to look for this one!

**Possible Spoiler Alert!!**I must begin by saying I can't truly be impartial, because I am a Connie Selleca fan. This is just a great movie! What can I say about this? Reconnected love, the chance at a new life, hey...even an adoption along the way! I think this is a great movie to watch, and although some of it occurs at Christmastime, I wouldn't exactly call this movie a Christmas movie. I really enjoy this movie, and I bet you will too! Just check it out sometime.