Stealing Christmas

This is a definite 9 in it's genre. I expected not much at all, but it turns out Danza and Thompson are great, and the supporting cast is as well. I'd rate it a great Christmas movie. I'm sad I didn't catch this when it first came out. I will watch it again next year, I'm sure. (And for me it more than passes my very minimal Christmas movie test. It loses at least a star if it doesn't make some reference to the real meaning of the holiday, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Usually it's just a religious carol thrown in or a nativity scene in the background that saves a movie. This has a church scene and deals with morality. It's not a Christian movie, so don't worry about that, haha, but it acknowledges the holiday beyond the crass materialism.)

I am watching this movie as I write, and am so impressed with Tony Danza's performance. What an underused, underrated actor! Someone of influence should take note, and give Mr. Danza the opportunity to act in a major film. The movie itself is not bad. Good as Christmas movies go.

"Stealing Christmas" has a very different plot, and a very good cast that includes some well-known TV actors of the time. Tony Danza plays Jack Clayton (also Oscar Barton), Lea Thompson plays Sarah Gibson, and Betty White plays Emily Sutton. White died on Dec. 31, 2021, at age 99, and had several Emmy wins from among many nominations in her career.

The acting in this film is mostly good all around, and while the production quality also is very good, there's nothing exceptional about any of this. The plot is somewhat odd and quite far-fetched, and the story doesn't quite fit well for a Christmas film. Some people might find the ending uplifting, but it just ends a quite far-fetched story.

I had watch 2 weeks for found him and still asking at myself is it him or not

While "Stealing Christmas" might easily have been just another cliched warm and fuzzy holiday tale, exceptional performances by Lea Thompson and Tony Danza raise the dramatic level and clear the way for a revelation of the underlying moral conflict. Betrayal of trust is the one transgression that has no redeeming value; Lea Thompson is the angel who turns Tony Danza's cynical heart away from the brink of betrayal, and touches his heart in a way that makes it impossible to betray the trust that has been placed in him by the simple hearted town folk--and the trust of Lea herself.

In an era of movies that myopically portray love exclusively in the form of passionate, nude bedroom scenes, "Stealing Christmas" provides a refreshing view of love between two people primarily as mutual respect, admiration, and most of all, acceptance of each others' faults.