What we have here is an exercise in how many clichés, in both characters and plot, one can stick into a single script. This objective is achieved for all practical purposes in the first ten minutes as cliché after cliché, and cliché within cliché, rolls forth about a lawyer's difficulties in balancing a loving but jobless husband, three darling but unruly children, and a pompous, unsympathetic boss.
But what else can a writer do to dramatize a lesson presented by countless Christmas tales told throughout the years, the lesson that above all, family is most important? Not far into the proceedings, shortly after the viewer has had a chance to realize what's going on, lead actor Lea Thompson utters the line, "Could this be any more clichéd?" That's what's known as a writer's gotcha, self-awareness made explicit.
Where this installment stumbles, however, is less in the story than in the execution. While other Christmas movies, particularly many done by Hallmark, have carried just, or nearly, as many clichés, they have generally come off more convincingly, even when fantasy elements were included.
After a mall Santa miraculously plops Sophie (Thompson's character) into the life she thinks she'd rather have, a life filled with a big house, a maid, the boss' job, and lots of furs, clichés start streaming in from the other side of life. The rest of the movie is spent exploring how Sophie can get her old life back. She does, of course, recover that old, messy life she had before, but with a few improvements tossed in from lessons learned. All loose ends are neatly tied in a Christmas bow, and "all's well that ends well."
There you have it. That plus the fact that none of the fifty-six people before me who have rated this movie in the year since its release has apparently considered it worthy enough to justify a comment, you now finally have enough information to decide whether or not you want to spend two hours watching this, or not, the next time it rolls around.
Addendum: If you want to see a nearly identical movie better executed, check out A Family Thanksgiving (TV 2010).