65 reviews

Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: MCAD28782D
ISBN: 1417065575
UPC: 025192878220
EAN: 9781417065578

Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Release Date: October 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Previously Viewed rental product. 100% GUARANTEED! May have stickers on case or disc. Fast shipping! Book, Video, Video Game & Music titles all in one location! Discover Your Entertainment at goHastings.

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
As five strangers lives intertwine on christmas eve a story of companionship love & healing unfolds against the backdrop of new york city. A delightful tale of redemption faith & the joy of living proving miracles are closer than you think. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 10/31/2006 Starring: Susan Saradon Penelope Cruz Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Chazz Palminteri

Amazon.com
A contemporary romantic drama borrowing inspiration from It's a Wonderful Life, this thought-provoking holiday film explores the lives of five strangers as they intersect at a crossroads of forgiveness and redemption. In his directorial debut, Chazz Palminteri lends a delicate hand to allow his talent-laden cast creative latitude to portray a handful of odd bedfellows who share little in common but loneliness on Christmas Eve. Susan Sarandon is remarkable as Rose Harrison, a divorced book editor who spends the holidays at a nursing home with her mother deep in the clutches of Alzheimer's. Although Rose's own story bleeds pathos, she shows genuine compassion toward others—whether it's the abandoned, mysterious patient across the hall, or the desperate fiancee, Nina (Penelope Cruz) who broke her engagement to her beloved Mike (Paul Walker) because of his suffocating jealousy. In separate subplots soon to collide, a strange bartender (Alan Arkin) divulges how his past was forever altered by someone he thinks is Mike, while another Alzheimer's visitor, Charlie Boyd (Robin Williams, uncredited) helps Rose accept the possibility of miracles in an uplifting climatic twist. Though some of the storylines inch toward the improbable, the film manages to veer just to the right of maudlin. Instead, it arrives as a heartwarming, life-affirming tale that tugs at the heartstrings (with a haunting musical score by the famed Alan Menken). Grab some 'nog and a hanky. (Rated PG for sensuality, language, and some intense thematic material) --Lynn Gibson

Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Noel March 16, 2008
L. G. Stanley (Mesquite Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful holiday movie. It is so close to home for me.

3 out of 5 stars

Noel January 13, 2008
Amanda (Portland, OR)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

A good movie to watch at Christmas time but it is a bit depressing. Great cast, Suasan Sarandon (sp?), Penelope Cruz and Robin Williams.

5 out of 5 stars

Noel DVD January 8, 2008
Ruth A. Jenkins (Temperance, Mi.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I saw this movie on TV a couple years ago and knew I had to add it to my library of movies. The DVD arrived quickly and I didn't waste any time watching it. This is a movie I can watch over and over. This is one of my all time favorites.

1 out of 5 stars

What?? December 6, 2007
Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I just didnt' get this movie. It is so discreet in what you are suppose to be understanding that I never did. I bought it thinking it was going to a movie of Christmas hope like the previews said but instead it was just weird.

2 out of 5 stars

attempts to play to two incompatible audiences July 22, 2007
bookloversfriend (United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

Ultra-realistic misery for six or seven characters for 85 minutes followed by happy endings that are improbable even by Christmas movie standards.

People who like socialist realism will like the first 85 minutes but will throw up at the end. People who like Christmas movies will find the first 85 minutes torture, but if they stick it out, may like the last 5 minutes.

Two of the characters (Sarandon and the cop) are relentlessly obnoxious throughout the movie. Two others (Alan Arkin and Penelope Cruz) are non-characters: their roles are one note. Two others (the Robin Williams character and the young guy who broke his hand) are sympathetic. All of them seem to be playthings of the gods, since every circumstance throws one more punch at them.

This movie bears no resemblance whatsoever to "It's a Wonderful Life." I don't know why the Amazon reviewer is so desperate to promote this loser of a movie.

The about-face done by the cop character was psychologically totally unrealistic. So, it's hard to rejoice with Penelope at the end. She's going to be miserable.

There are several unintended belly-laughs in the movie. For instance, the cop's partner keeps harping on the old guy as a dangerous nut case. The first three or four times, it is understandable if annoying. But when the partner pops up at the cop's apartment door and immediately goes into the same song and dance, it's a hoot, like one of those slapstick routines from a silent comedy.

Bottom line: there are so many good Christmas movies, many of which haven't gotten the attention they deserve. For example, have you seen "A Season For Miracles"? Or, if you like realism, "Silent Night". Or "The Christmas Shoes". Or "A Holiday for Love". Or "Unlikely Angel". Do yourself a favor and buy one of these.