You know how a Lifetime movie will sometimes leap out of the box and surprise? HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS does just that. While the movie is billed as starring Sean Young and Perry King, the movie really belongs to Young and Lucia Walters. Perry King is in only a few scenes and is not worth writing about. Young, playing the role of an Aunt who gains guardianship of three children after the death of their parents, gives a truly compelling performance. This was the first surprise. The second was a wonderful performance from Lucia Walters as a Social Worker who must work inside a bureaucratic system - and actually care at the same time. The final surprise was a plot that kept me interested and a script that was fairly well-written. There are some weak spots and plot holes, but for the most part this little holiday telefilm fits into my category of a Lifetime Surprise.
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FilmNoirOnline29 December 2005
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statuskuo31 December 2011It seems that a lot of holiday movies want to force that sentiment that should come with honesty of the story and NOT the acting. A lot of times what we get is a movie that has very polarized characters. Bad guy is over there...he should twirl his mustache.
There are just too many unearned sobbing in this film. I think I follow William Goldman's sensibility when his idea of courage is looking at the face of destruction, knowing you have no way of living thru adversity, but still stepping into rank and file. I think there were just too many moments where the characters want us to feel a certain way...and push that button. HARD.
The story revolves around Martha McCarthy (played by Sean Young). She's very plain and simple. Living a log cabin life while surviving on part time work in an antique store. After the death of her sister, four children are dropped into her lap. And now it's a fight with the bank to decide their fates. She wants to keep them. Foster care wants to take them as she is considered unacceptable applicant. Even though she is the only family the children have.
I made a similar film like this in film school. It was an incredibly tight rope you float when you add children to the mix. Easy to exploit the emotions, since any child left alone already draws feelings. Martha's character needs to grow up fast. And part of this is learning from adversity Which she is given in spades. She is fighting so many fires, it's hard to determine which one will re-ignite later in her life. What is surprising is, at a certain point in the movie, she becomes resigned to this lot in life and does some really creative work to fight the powers that be.
One curious thought that came to mind...the town is small. Everyone knows each other. Everyone helps each other. Everyone seems to be related in some way. Is it really realistic to believe that some powers that be would not have faith in her? They do a really good job arguing this point.
I say, as an inspirational flick...it is worth the time. I like small-town movies. And Sean Young does a really serviceable job. She seems to have dropped her really bizarre persona that she was notorious for for a very neat acting job. She IS a small town girl, and you feel every minute she's lived in that town.
Would I recommend? On a slow night, it's a nice feel-good lazy watch. -
Christmas-Reviewer24 October 2016Martha McCarthy takes in her niece and two nephews when their parents die. A kindly social worker, Paige Holloway, goes out of the way to help her out, but her boss believes Martha is unsuited to raise them and recommends that the children be sent into foster care. Martha is desperate to avoid losing the only family she has left and does everything in her power to provide a suitable home for the children. As Christmas approaches, her dreams seem to crumbling around her, but the return of an old love, Jack Cooper, and Paige's efforts bring hope to her plight.
This films is okay. Nothing special but nothing bad. On the whole its about "Orphans and Christmas". The filmmakers should of taken some more risk. They played it safe and when you do that, the audience falls asleep.
The film is family safe. However if you need a sleeping pill and you are out this film is a good alternative -
cgoog-sale225 December 2013I would give this movie a minus 10 if I could. It was so bad, I had to find something else to watch because this movie didn't even qualify as background noise while fixing Christmas dinner-- it was so bad.
The characters are not so much drawn as splashed like left over paint on the floor.
The characters are one dimensional and either evil evil evil or goody goody goody. You get the idea.
The acting is wooden and lacks any inflection. The main character's hair is right out of "fright wigs R us."
The director said "act mean" and the actor grimaced. I wish I could be more pithy, but just stay away - very far away- from this trash. -
angeladavis4930 December 2023A lot of Scrooge reviews here. So funny how average people think they are film critics. It's just a sweet family oriented Christmas movie about love and family. It's starts very sad but near the middle perks up as things get kind of nerve wracking. Unique solutions as the town chips in to help. Perry king and Sean young have made another tv movie together in 1998 which I loved, The cowboy and the movie star. They are still good friends. I think they have a good chemistry. This movie made it a little scary to think custody might be so complicated at a time like this though. I wanted to choke the hateful social worker department head because of how she treated the worker trying to help the family. Then there was the banker who was awful. Anyway all ends well and I liked it. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a nice Christmas movie.