tek's rating: sub-meh

One Magic Christmas (G)
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This came out in 1985, but I didn't see it until 2021. I watched it because I liked the cast list that I read on Wikipedia, but the only person who actually mattered was Mary Steenburgen. She played Ginnie Grainger, who had no Christmas spirit, so an angel named Gideon was assigned to change that. He didn't really do all that much, though. The main focus of the movie is really Ginnie's daughter, Abbie (Elisabeth Harnois, too young for me to recognize). Ginnie also has a husband named Jack and a son named Caleb, the latter of whom is of practically no importance to the story, except to be a kid who doesn't believe in Santa Claus. Jack, on the other hand, has a reasonable amount of Christmas spirit, despite being out of work, and despite the fact that he and his family are being evicted from their home by the first of January. So of course they don't have much money to buy their kids presents. Anyway... Abbie meets Gideon, and isn't supposed to tell anyone about him, but she does anyway, and nobody believes she met an angel. And then... some terrible things happen, but they later un-happen. I don't want to go into details. But of course Ginnie ultimately gets her Christmas spirit back.

Wayne Robson, whom I know from The Red Green Show, has a role the nature of which I don't want to spoil. (When we first see him he's a jerk in a checkout lane at the supermarket where Ginnie works, but he becomes more important later on.) What I'm really disappointed about is that the cast list includes Michlle Meyrink, whose role is so infinitesimal she's not even remotely worth mentioning, except that I was really looking forward to seeing her in something other than "Real Genius". As it was, I wouldn't have recognized her if I wasn't looking for her. Sarah Polley is also in an incredibly miniscule role, but I wouldn't have recognized her anyway, being so young. Jan Rubes, whom I know from Max Glick, had a more significant role, but I didn't recognize him under all the facial hair. But I could live with all these disappointments regarding actors I like, if the movie itself had been any good. And... I guess I can at least say I watched the whole thing. There are rare movies that I try to watch but just can't get very far into before I quit, so I suppose getting all the way through this one says something. But it was just so boring, and so un-magical. There's just nothing really to like about it, as far as I could see.


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