Une Famille Formidable

I know, I know. It probably sucked. And i really don't like Dyan Cannon; talk about a chick who's afraid to age.

But i LOVED this movie. It was a total 'feel good' production... no big downers, only delight.

try it, with an eye towards entertainment. i'm sure you'll like it!

(admittedly, this is no "Auntie Mame" :)

Look this isn't a classic like Barbara Stanwyks version of Christmas in Connecticut. But it's also not a word for word remake of the original script. Dyan Cannon is fantastic. Tony, Curtis, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Roundtree round out the household names that are very good here , obviously having fun , but unknowns also shine like child actor, Jimmy workman, who went on the play Pugsley Adams in a couple of big movies as well as the actor that played the crazed Director . His last name I believe is Arnott. I mean, that guy is great , hilarious and deserves to have had a bigger career than he has had so far.

Sit back relax and enjoy the show; the last 10 or 15 minutes are terrific. I laughed out loud the whole time.

Again, it's just fun.

The TV version isnt great but it isnt that terrible, i mean its a cute little movie that pokes fun at overdone TV characters and yes at times it gets a little crazy. Watch it and then decide. The original is good yes but its old. This one makes more sense.

"Directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger" are not words I was familiar with in a sentence. I was totally unaware The Oak ha stepped behind the camera. The fact a Christmas movie was getting shown in the UK in October says it all really. But I was intrieged and in the absence of anything else to watch, I gave it a go.

Plot In A Paragraph: Elizabeth (Dyan Cannon) is the star of a successful cooking show and author of several cookbooks. But when her manager, Alexander (Tony Curtis) sees forest ranger Jefferson (Kris Kristofferson) who lost his cabin in a fire, on TV he arranges for a special live show on Christmas, for Elizabeth to cook him Christmas Dinner. Only one problem Elizabeth can't cook.

I used to have a crush on Dyan Cannon from when I first saw her opposite Burt Reynolds in 'Shamus' and while she has clearly aged she still has a certain sexiness to her, and Arnie was clearly a fan of her ass, as he showcases it a lot. I've liked Kris Kristoffeson since I first saw him in a Burt Reynolds movie too, this time 'Semi Tough'. Both do fine jobs here, but Tony Curtis hams it up to good effect and steals the show.

I'm surprised by Arnie's directorial debut being a Christmas TV movie, and it certainly has it's faults, but it also is not without charm either.

There are risks in doing remakes. When I saw this, I had not seen the Stanwyck film. I just found this about as dull as can be. The whole thing with trying to cook a dinner for a forest ranger and having to hide the fact that she can't cook and going through the gyrations they do, just doesn't work. Is her career really going to hit the skids because the tree guy might find out? Two really tiresome actors, Dyan Cannon and Kris Kristofferson (I like his music) walk through their roles and produce something they hoped would sell at Christmas time. I imagine they managed to put a few people in the seats at the time, but I doubt it has had much of a following. It's just a weak film and can fade into the woodwork of cheap collections of Christmas movies.