All I Want for Christmas

source: All I Want for Christmas

This has been a childhood favorite of mine. It's been some years since I watched the movie. Rewatching it made me feel so nostalgic. The 90's were something. You don't get scripts like this nowadays. There's something special about this movie. It's more than just the script and actors. Maybe because it has to deal with matters of the heart and of course Christmas. It's great for families not just around Christmas. I can literally watch it anytime of the year. It's fun to watch the kids come up with some kind of cooky plan to get their parents back together. But there's also some depth to film due to the subject material. Recommend for those who love the old rather than the new. Because new doesn't always mean better!

All I Want for Christmas The best present that divorced parents can give their children is remarrying millionaires. Mind you, the siblings in this comedy would prefer their parents remarry each other. Products of the 1990s separation boom, Manhattanites Ethan (Ethan Randall) and his sister Hallie (Thora Birch) only have one wish this Christmas: to trick their mother (Harley Jane Kozak) into falling back in love with their father (Jamey Sheridan). But in order to implement a plan that will get rid of their mom's new boyfriend (Kevin Nealon), they need the assistance of their grandmother (Lauren Bacall), Ethan's crush (Amy Oberer) and Santa (Leslie Nielsen). While the surprisingly funny script ventures into familiar reconciliation territory, this seasonal take on the subject is greatly benefited by its snappy dialogue and resplendent setting – even if it does set unrealistic expectations. Moreover, if you want to really reunite your separated parents over the holidays just fake cancer. Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Don't care what the critics say. Compared to many other Christmas Movies, this is a fabulous movie. A plot by two kids to get their divorced parents back together. Both kids are great. Sure it's a fantasy, but so is Santa Claus. Poignant part was when son was watching home movie of parents wedding, babies, previous Christmases.

Ethan (Ethan Randall) and Hallie O'Fallon (Thora Birch) live with their divorced mother Catherine (Harley Jane Kozak) and grandmother Lillian (Lauren Bacall) in their upper class New York townhouse. Their father Michael (Jamey Sheridan) opens a diner based on a place important to his relationship with Catherine. Ethan is infatuated with Stephanie from Boston. Hallie asks the store Santa (Leslie Nielsen) to have her parents get married again. Then she overhears her mother agreeing to marry her boyfriend Tony Boer (Kevin Nealon). She realizes that she failed to ask to have her parents marry each other. The kids are adorable. They're laying a parent trap. The divorced parents' chemistry is obvious and unflinching. Nealon is not necessarily a jerk but kind of a jerk-lite. This is cute but not actually funny. The movie has its heart in the right place but this is not really classic.

I think I'm beginning to realize that its very easy to have exactly the right expectations when going into a Christmas film. You can read a synopsis or even a title in some cases and you should know exactly what it will be. All I Want For Christmas is one of those films. Its not amazing, its not terrible, its a cute, fun, family friendly movie about two kids trying to get their parents back together. Its similar to Parent Trap (though not as good) and set at Christmas to give it some ambiance. The cast is good, the story is good, the direction is good...everything is good. Someone looking for something unique or extremely emotional won't find it here. This is mildly predictable and obvious and you know how it will turn out and it doesn't try to extend itself outside of the box. Ethan Embry and Thora Birch are insatiably adorable as the O'Fallon siblings who want nothing more than their beloved parents to be back together again. Both have decent charisma on screen and they are really good together. They are definitely believable as mildly trouble makers with a plan. Harley Jane Kozak and Jamey Sheridan are their parents and they are also good in their roles. They suit the roles, they're believable and entertaining without being anywhere near mind blowing. The film even features a couple of legends in small supporting roles, Lauren Bacall and Andrea Martin. The best way to describe this film is a cute made for TV type film. I actually think it probably had a theatrical release but it has more of that feel to it. It definitely has a certain nostalgic feel to it for a lot of 80's kids and they love it for that reason and there is nothing wrong with that but if you're going into it now as an adult for the first time, you'll find it mildly entertaining but mostly forgettable. If you look at director Robert Lieberman you'll see a long history of Television specials which definitely plays into the feel of the film. He is all over the board for genre but if he plays everything simple enough he could spread himself over various genres. I feel like I've trashed this movie throughout this review but that isn't my intention. Its just very simple and very cute but not much more. It was still fun to watch. 7/10

I enjoyed this movie the first time around. True there may be some cliché themes, but it is a Christmas movie. So, give it a break. I know the critics hated it. Perhaps they lost sight of what the movie is supposed to be about: asking Santa for the ultimate gift a re-united family. Now that I am a parent I appreciate this film even more. The daughter who is now 6, loves the film and can immediately identify with the character Hailey, played by Thora Birch. Laruen Bacall reminds me a lot of my own grandmother. Bottom line: if you haven't seen this film yet, watch it with an open mind. Even better, watch it with a child.

Harley Jane Kozak had a great career in the late 1980's and early 1990's after success on the daytime soaps "Texas", "Guiding Light" and especially "Santa Barbara", but being crushed to death by the Capwell Hotel "C" was a metaphor for this tepid Christmas movie that followed audience favorites like "Parenthood" and "Arachnophobia" with an unbelievable and generally unlikable family comedy where she is one of the few decent things in it. Make it her and the legendary Lauren Bacall, and maybe a nice New York City atmosphere that captures some of the magic of the city where a White Christmas wasn't always guaranteed. It's too bad that there isn't a better script or likable characters, with Jamey Sheridan bland as her ex-husband, Kevin Nealon obnoxious as her new boyfriend, and Ethan Embry and Thora Birsch as the children utilizing rather absurd methods to try and get their parents back together. The film has a colorful, festive look, but you can't just have a look. You have to have a story that won't make the audience cringe, which apparently they did in 1991 along with the critics. Bacall is gracious, funny with her subtle asides about how much she can't stand Nealon's phoniness and pretty much motivates the kids to reconcile their parents. She looks great and plays a very understanding character, even garnering audience affection for still loving her former son-law. Poor Andrea Martin is completely wasted as the pregnant Russian employee, but she serves absolutely no purpose. Then there's Renee Taylor in a cameo as a wedding planner who is oblivious to the white mice whom the kids have let loose in an attempt to freak the mice phobic Nealon out, a truly idiotic scene. The kids do other sorts of seemingly illegal things to get rid of him, and they just aren't funny. Another plotline involves Embry's crush on a classmate which ultimately has her spending Christmas Eve in a local diner with him and Birsch, creating concern for Kozak and Sheridan over a sleepless night that is seemingly manipulated to reconcile them. Embry's character gets several moments that do not ring true for a teenage boy, being sentimental as he looks at a badly made video of past family Christmas's. Birsch's character is completely cloying from beginning to end, grating in her pretentious Christmas suit as she walks down the street all determined to break up her mother and her boyfriend. Leslie Nielsen is cast as Santa Claus in a basically pointless subplot. Any sense of sentiment is additionally destroyed by a sappy theme song that has to be one of the worst movie songs of the 1990's. A sad holiday fiasco that now on TV is an instant channel changer.

This cheesy little Christmas movie is my favorite of all time. When my children were younger we never missed sitting and watching it together. Now we all own a copy on DVD and it has become our traditional Christmas movie along with the classics. The costumes in this movie, especially Santa's, are gorgeous. The relationships between parents and children, brother and sister, grandmother... are endearing. The performance of Baby It's Cold Outside is a definite highlight. The movie does a good job of giving off the New York feel of Christmas. I hate to admit it, but my children and I so love this movie, that I am Nana to my grandchild because of it.

One of the few films where I first say that chances you'll like it are slim. It's childish, poorly acted in spots, completely unbelievable. But also extremely harmless and a rare Christmas adventure. Randall and Birch's parents got divorced earlier in the year. They aren't quite prepared for their first Christmas as a broken family. Little Birch (who's adorable) asks Santa to get them back together, but Randall knows better that it's pretty much left up to him. That's probably the element I enjoyed most about the film, as the older brother wanting to grant his little sisters Christmas wish. So, they hatch one of those totally implausible schemes to get their folks back, where everything falls perfectly into place and could only succeed in movie land. But, again, I was into it (and a nice bonus is that the film is wonderfully edited). Though I could've done without the obligatory moment where Santa flies thru the air and really does exist. Such a worn out scene that should've been dropped. But, maybe it was the atmosphere of the snow and seasonal setting, and innocence of the characters that had me compelled. Randall is an absolutely terrible young actor, but when with Birch, the two have a terrific chemistry as bro and sis. Which baffles me, as Randall had already done a film earlier in the year ("Dutch", with Ed O' Neill) and though he wasn't awesome, he was at least decent. Here he constantly repeats himself, rambles a lot and is always adding a nervous giggle. Made him hard to watch at times. Same with Oberer as his crush. She tends to talk with a smile and shortness of breath. Birch comes off best as the spunky 7-year-old. Bacall is barely glimpsed, with Sheridan and Kozak good as the folks. The ending loses points as well, with Randall's endless speech about wanting to be a family again. Then the expected return of Kozak's cliche, tight-ass boyfriend so he can berate her kids and make her realize he aint the one. But I loved Randall's last line of "Thank you, Santa!" after being kissed on the neck by Oberer. So if you need one for the kids or maybe a viewing by the whole family, give this a shot. Surprised by the G-rating, though. Talk of divorce, one sort of swear (the word "sucks") and a big painting of a naked woman with huge knockas (and, yes, its complete with her "flower" exposed as well).