Lord Bessie and I get caught up in it every year. We love/hate it. I mean, we really do love it, but all the while we acknowledge the lameness of it. Usually, we have to wait until after Thanksgiving to make room on our TiVO, but as with everything else during the holiday season, it looks as though the movie schedule is also getting bumped up. I’m delighted by this, of course. I also can’t explain it, because it really doesn’t mesh with the demands I place on my favorite shows or the big screen. These movies are almost guaranteed to be sub-par at best, but it just doesn’t matter. We go into it expecting a cheese-fest, and Hallmark (or Lifetime or The Family Channel) delivers every time. Somehow, this particular brand of TV movie escapes the wrath I save for other Hollywood efforts. And those lowered expectations really make room for mindless enjoyment.
Anyway, tonight was our first for the year: A Family Thanksgiving, starring 80s star, Daphne Zuniga. Or as I like to call her – The Sigh Master. I don’t mean to suggest she’s completely without talent, but she relies verrrrry heavily on a range of sighing to express nearly every emotion, from frustration to relief to delight to exhaustion (is that an emotion?). Even Lord Bessie was counting them… which took a lot of self-imposed pressure off me.
The story line itself has been done. I get the impression originality is pretty pricey. But again, this doesn’t play into the entertainment factor. It can actually be part of the fun to identify the slight differences to a familiar plot. This particular story you’ll recognize as a poor man’s version of A Family Man, a big screen production starring Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni. More recently, there was an amusing Hallmark take on it, starring another 80s favorite, Nancy McKeon (aka. Jo from Facts of Life). The big differentiator between these two flicks, of course, is that THIS movie takes place over Thanksgiving and not Christmas. It takes a trained eye, folks, a trained eye.
Admittedly, Daphne is no Nic Cage. (I’m pretty sure he didn’t sigh once in his version.) But she sure does know how to look lost and confused when the script calls for it. There was a lot of pressure on her too. Those of you who aren’t familiar with this genre must realize that the star is required to be in every scene. This means lots of variation on looks of frustration, several quirks of the brow, and a host of bumbling over the simplest of tasks that a committed and independent career woman thrust into the role of a wife and mother would never be able to master. Brilliant stuff.
Inevitably, the central character comes to the realization that her life wasn’t fulfilling after all. All of these successful years she’s actually been stifling a warm, engaging, child-bearing inner self that would make her life complete. (That’s much more annoying in typed format.) So… when she is finally returned to the real world – always reluctantly – it is imperative that she turn her back on her current path and immediately pursue the man of her dreams, revealed to her in the alternate reality. See what you’ve been missing??
I could’ve used a little bit more humor in this version. Jo set the bar pretty high in her adaptation. Daphne, on the other hand, was a little slow on the draw, leaving the bulk of the humor to the two fantasy world children. They were cute. Especially the little girl playing the three(ish) year old. It’s possible they just ad-libbed her parts (in which case – bravo!), but she really stole all of her scenes. The little boy wasn’t so bad either. The husband, while tall, dark and handsome to be sure, was a bit of a lump. His wife ostensibly underwent this huge personality change, becoming demanding and incompetent and insulting and unappreciative, but he just let it all happen, nary a word in protest.
So you can see why I loved it so much. Come this time next year, I’ll be anticipating the first commercial announcing its multi-night repeat run. Because that’s what these movies are all about people – predictable, exaggerated, fantastical fun starring former child stars who’ve found a comfortable perch on the padded pedestal you gave them. Sighhhh. Give me a break ok? Let me keep them there.
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