Ma vie est un enfer

Claudia (Daphne Zuniga), a rising attorney, is very happy to be summoned to the office of her firm's managing lawyers. She believes she will be asked to become a partner, for, after all, she does work many hours and has won important decisions. Yet, as she soon finds out, now is not her time. Not yet. Instead, they plop still another difficult case in her lap, one they are taking from another colleague who is not making progress. So, if Claudia can bring victory to the firm, a partnership is hers. Swallowing her disappointment, she goes back to tell her staff they will be working until three on Thanksgiving Day, plenty of time for them to join their families for dinner. Also, she phones her work-at-home sister to tell her sib that, once again, she can't make it to their family celebration. When asked for good reasons, Claudia's explanation reveals that her own SISTER is getting a neighborhood group together to fight the company Claudia will be defending. Uh oh. Then, too, Claudia who picks up coffee each morning at 6, has always brushed off the smiles of a businessman named Bill (Dan Payne). Someone else has been watching Claudia, too, a mysterious woman (Faye Dunaway), who may just be the "alternate universe" fairy. She knows all and sees all. Therefore, to give Claudia a rude awakening, this woman plants Claudia in a "what if" new life. In this one, Claudia is married to Bill, having given up her career, and is the mother of two adorable children. But, wait, Claudia doesn't even know how to change a diaper or pack a lunch! Also, Bill thinks she is angry about a previous fight, but just how long can she give him the cold shoulder in the bedroom? Most importantly, she gets to know her sister's point of view about the case she could have had, and her sister may be right. Please, can't she just go back to her normal life, Claudia pleads, or does she really want to? This film is in the long tradition of such flicks as Sliding Doors and 17 Again, where one can go back in time and choose a different path to pursue. Happily, its not too much of a good thing, as the film is funny, clever, and sweet. Zuniga is a great and pretty comedian while Payne is a real find, quite handsome and appealing. The rest of the cast, including Dunaway, is nice as well. The look of the film, with its well-picked costumes, sets, and art direction, is winning as is the polished script and energetic direction. Hey, Thanksgiving is coming soon, as of this writing, but even if it weren't, this is a mood-setting movie that would aid in the true meaning of the holiday.

I liked the story. I did find it a little far fetched that a German company would have a factory that does not practice environmental safety. The Germans have been cleaning up rivers and practicing forest management for many years. Your research was not very good.

Gave this 5 stars simply because 5 is right in the middle...as in no better, no worse than any of the other movies in the "Hallmark Holiday" genre.

If you like the sappy, all wrapped up in a heartwarming, happy ending type movie, you'll probably like this one too. If you're not a big fan of these movies, this probably isn't going to change your view.

It follows the same basic "story" or "message" as so many others. Sure, maybe the details differ, maybe the scenario is reversed (riches to rags vs. rags to riches, a woman vs. a man etc.). But yet.... Just another holiday movie.

So, like I said in the title... If you've seen one, you've seen them all!

I will say though, the acting in this one is better than a lot of others, but again, nothing extraordinary to make you want to run out and see it.

Single, high-flying attorney Claudia (Daphne Zuniga), tops in her class at Harvard Law, is focused on one thing: her career, and making partner at her this-is-your-only-life law firm. Her drive for success has predictably made her miss countless family events, and is about to do the same with this year's Thanksgiving at her sister's (Gina Holden, playing a stay-at-home mom), when Claudia is suddenly thrust by a mysterious figure (Faye Dunaway) into an alternate reality wherein she had given up the idea of practicing law years before in favor of having a husband (Dan Payne) and two children.

If this story sounds somewhat familiar, perhaps you saw The Christmas Clause (TV 2008). The current movie takes the basic idea of the former, resets it from Christmas to Thanksgiving, and flips the situation, i.e., instead of a mom with three kids shown what her life would be like as a successful lawyer with all the material goods she could possibly desire, here the lawyer becomes the mom and is shown how much richer her life could be if she broadened her focus and looked beyond her career as the sole purpose of her life.

While both movies take a similar route to reach a common goal, this "remake" is executed much more adeptly, and while still firmly rooted in the traditional Hallmark mold and formula, "Thanksgiving" dispenses with many of the clichés which made "Christmas" merely pedestrian.

The acting here is uniformly good, but young Kennedi Clements as Claudia's alternate reality daughter, is a heart-stealer in this, her apparent movie debut.

It is a reasonable question to ask what Family Man would have been like if Nicholas Cage had played a workaholic career woman attorney instead of a male Wall Streeter. The producers of A Family Thanksgiving have answered that question. Don Cheadle has been recast as Faye Dunaway but Faye and the script make it a less entertaining part. The kids are older now while the spouse is a stranger instead of an old love. There are a couple nice twists to the Family Man plot. It is interesting to feel different emotional impact when the protagonist finding herself in various family situations is not a man as in Family Man. I was disappointed that the emotional peak of Family Man is missing due to one of the script differences--made me feel like I was watching a TV movie. Bottom line is I enjoyed it and intend to watch it again to examine more closely the emotional impact of the gender switch. But if you haven't seen either and can only see one, see Family Man.