Wow! I had read things here about this movie like, "it's a sin against Christmas" and "The Room of Christmas movies," so naturally I HAD to see it. This was actually a bit different than I had anticipated. It is, for the most part, dull and talky. And, really, not even a real Christmas movie. But stay tuned for the final act (and its aftermath). It is a doozy! I thought Ravin (Spangler's real daughter) was the best actor in this whole mess, and she is no great shakes, either. She could play spoiled and snotty, but when it came to the serious/sad scenes... well it seems like she's got one character in her repertoire, anyway. Her mom seemingly reads her lines off the not-yet-familiar script in every scene. Dean Cain fares no better, but he's off in some dreamworld, and you can't fault him for the material given.
A rich, shrewd businesswoman (Spangler) buys her daughter a pony for Christmas, then is promptly killed by a drunk driver on her way home. So she is given an ultimatum by "Gabriel" (Cain) for her to get her daughter off the "naughty" list and onto the "nice" list. Problem is, she can only communicate with her maid(?!!). Ravin's spoiled-as-well sister shows up with her boyfriend, who, shockingly, plays in a punk band. They hired some pretty boy Brit for this part, who is basically the exact opposite of a punk rocker (or, British accent? We have a winner!). You too will laugh. But they save most of the hilarity for the end, where the "boy Ravin likes" has a heart condition, and they think he's going to die in the hospital. It is a veritable sap-a-thon, and worth every penny of the one dollar I paid for this movie.
SPOILER: Mom sacrifices her very existence so that Ravin can be with the boy she has a crush on (although the script bails on that promise, family movie and all).
No director is credited! If you look up the details of this movie, you'll see a guy named Brian Skiba was given the honor. One can only assume he had his name taken offa this thing. Also, can someone be credited as both executive producer AND producer? This marks the one and only time I've seen that occur.