L'amour en cadeau

A charming and surprisingly amusing bit of Christmas fluff; predictable but redeemed by good writing and superb performances by every cast member. While nothing wildly original it is a creditable effort. Tyne Daly is a standout as the majestic matriarch.

Although this movie strives very hard to promote peace and good will, it is spoilt by the unbelievable storyline. The cast does its best against the odds, but even the greatest optimist in the world knows that life is not really like this.

Still, it is an entertaining concept - and if you can accept first the unlikely premise and second the fact that the "happy ending" is achieved by making almost all of the characters go against type - then I recommend it just for the feelgood ending. I must admit that I only watched it because of Tyne Daly (who still has the ability to command the screen) - and have to also admit that it hooked me to the degree that I only started to question it all after it was over.

A good way to muster up the spirit of Christmas - what more can we ask?

Brandi is a cocktail waitress whose boyfriend Scott is being investigated by the FBI for misusing money he and his family were supposed to invest for other people. Jake is one of the FBI agents. After Scott is arrested, the FBI persuades Brandi to testify, but Jake believes Brandi needs to be kept away from Scott. A family emergency leads to Scott bringing Brandi home to meet his parents at Christmas. He tells them Brandi is his girlfriend, and she is all too willing to play the role. Jake's parents wonder how these two could possibly be together. His mother does a good job of hiding her frustration. But his father, a judge, reminds his son once again what a disappointment he is. His sister Stefanie became a lawyer and continued working rather than staying home with her daughter. Jake was supposed to be a lawyer like his father. Jake's family has money, but they seem more interested in impressing people than getting along with each other. Brandi grew up with a mother who kept getting remarried, and she wasn't used to 'the good life'.

The movie started out as a comedy, but about halfway through the laughs stopped abruptly. The rest of the movie was unpleasant too much of the time, though some parts were nice. The ending was satisfying but, given all the various twists, it was hard to imagine this happening. Many different directions would have been possible. Both Brandi and Jake's family ended up learning important lessons.

I thought Tyne Daly would be the reason to watch. She was good, but Jami Gertz was the standout performer. Brandi was sarcastic most of the time and very funny when she was. She could also be sweet as she saw what life could have been like for her, even though these people didn't get along perfectly. She was great with Stefanie's daughter Ashley (Alexandra Harvey, who was pretty good as a slightly rebellious preteen).

I could have been happier, but the movie was good for a while, and the second half was not exactly a disaster.

An overworked FBI agent(Shawn Christian)needs to "hide" a key witness(Jami Gertz)in an ongoing swindle investigation. Christian ends up taking Gertz to his wealthy parents home after being told his father has suffered a heart attack. This is a ploy of his mother(Tyne Daly)in hopes of seeing her son for the holiday. Predictably the agent and the witness pretending to be an "item" do fall in love. Also in the cast are: Diana Chaplin, Winston Rekert and Cameron Bancroft. Light hearted comedy worth watching. The main reason I watched is Gertz...man, that girl is HOT!

I found myself truly engrossed in the story and the characters. You might consider it as a "guilty pleasure" movie but it's defin one worth watching.