A Christmas Reunion

The story was a little different than the usual, but not completely. Estranged high school sweethearts must return to home town for funeral of Amy's aunt who raised her. There is a mini-mystery, but the answer was obvious from the moment it became a mystery. And huge clues quickly confirm the obvious answer. Other than that the story is split between reopening the bakery and reconciling the two sweethearts.

Denise Richards, as Amy, and Patrick Muldoon, as Jack. had no chemistry and I'm not sure why anyone would want to romance either one of them. They spent more time fighting before suddenly changing direction. Supporting actors were anywhere from horrible to fair. The boss, the assistant, and the lawyer were among the horrible.

Denise Richards plays Amy, a New York City advertising executive on the verge of being made a junior partner just before Christmas.

However when her aunt dies, Amy has to return to her hometown and finds out that she has inherited half her bakery along with her ex boyfriend Jack (Patrick Muldoon) who has been in the army.

Both of them have to get on in the short term to manage the bakery and organise the Christmas cookie contest. Jake Busey plays Dylan the devious lawyer who is handling the aunt's estate.

Another cookie cutter made for television festive film. This one has three actors who all appeared in Starship Troopers. Unfortunately Richards and Muldoon seem to be going through the motions for the pay cheque. There seems to be no romance between the characters. Only Busey makes a lasting impression as the lawyer and Parker Stevenson as the advertising agency boss.



A Madison Avenue executive, Amy, discovers an unusual Christmas surprise when she inherits her Aunt's hometown bakery. The real surprise comes when she learns the other half of the bakery was left to her long-ago boyfriend, Jack. Unresolved personal issues resurface between them, as the exes return home to co-manage the store, along with its traditional holiday cookie bake-off.

I need to say that I love to see considerably big names participating in small budget movies, whether it's direct to DVD release or made for TV. Back in the day, some actors were great and promising. A bright future was ahead. In other words, they had time to fix things. So if they broke up, there would still be hope that one day... Yeah, they reunite.

But there is such issue as real life. And time doesn't know mercy too. Remember these two in Starship Troopers? How young they both were at the time. Watching that feature film I did not realize they were a couple or would never think about them as such. And only recently I've read some rumors about their probable reunion.

And suddenly it occurred to me that it's possible, and how Patrick looks at her. You know Denise does still have that doll (Barbie) face with some signs of aging. But I can see that it can be more challenging for her to start relations now than back in her middle 90s timeline. While she is an attractive woman and so on, for her, the time to be young is over, no matter how harsh it may sound. On the other hand, Patrick is not getting any younger too. It was such a perfect match. Together they can shine much brighter. Once I noticed that I wanted to see something with them together. And there it was - "A Christmas reunion"...

Ok, obviously it's not the best movie I've ever seen. But it's them that made it better. Without those two I doubt I would have even bothered to watch it. Story-wise nothing is really to see here. Still, it's a Christmas movie, one of these with a happy ending. No real conflict etc. Another nostalgic reason that makes this one better than it could have been - Catherine Hicks. I happened to enjoy her performance in Child's play the day before. So for me, she went from a young beautiful woman to an old sweet aunt that passes away to get this Christmas reunion story going, in one day. Wow, it was sad. I've checked her filmography on IMDB and... it's just sad.

Would I recommend "A Christmas reunion" to someone who doesn't know anything about Denise or Patrick behind the scene relations, or doesn't recognize Catherine Hicks? Probably not. But if you happen to like one of the mentioned ingredients for a good nostalgic evening or reflect on life and time you may find this movie quite enjoyable.

It is a film to see just for actors. Not for their performances , not for storytelling, not for Christmas or romance or... . Only as support for remember other roles of Denise Richards,Patrick Muldoon or Catherine Hicks. The story of the aunt, her bakery, innocents in roles of managers and the resurrection of the fire of passion from high school after 20 years are familiar. And, in this case, each of them works real wrong. Or fake. Sure, at the first sigh it is a problem of chemistry missing. In fact, it is only an awful story and the reunion for the title is reduced at the meet of viewer with familiar actors, olders, and nothing else.

Was not all that excited over the concept for 'A Christmas Reunion', which is not a new one by any stretch of the imagination (it wasn't at the time and it's been done near to death now). Same with the cast, the most familiar name to me is Patrick Muldoon and this did not seem like a role that would suit him. Saw 'A Christmas Reunion' still anyway, as a fan of Christmas and many Christmas films and as someone who found the title quite sweet.

'A Christmas Reunion' is as far from sweet as one can get as a film. It's barely half-baked, or should that be raw, and even a four cheese pizza has less cheese than the amount that fills this film. Have seen worse Christmas films, though it is very close to being down there among the worst, and films in general, but 'A Christmas Reunion' is not good by any stretch of the imagination to me. Not completely irredeemable, but almost everything fails.

The best thing about it is Catherine Hicks, who is quite charming and fun.

Did think too that some of the soundtrack was pleasantly festive.

Unfortunately, everything else fails and badly. Muldoon is practically sleepwalking here and does not look comfortable or like he wanted to be there, he also looks too borderline creepy to pass for a romantic lead. Denise Richards fares a little bit better as she is a little more animated in her line delivery, but she also seemed too lightweight and the charm needed for her role wasn't there. She and Muldoon agreed do not have any chemistry together, it was like they hated each other and whenever they were meant to show any affection it was like lets get this done over with. Jake Busey overacts and is very annoying, the most annoying character in a film where finding any character to like let alone root for was near-impossible, Hicks was the one exception.

It is a very poorly written film as well, everything sounds so forced and stilted. Have heard better actually in 80s B-movies. The story is paper thin, lacking in any kind of lustre and completely charmless, not to mention pretty much a series of already rehashed retreads of other Christmas films. 'A Christmas Reunion' looks cheap, shot with a flat look and with low budget and hasty production written all over it. It actually could easily pass for a film from the early 90s.

Concluding, very poor. 2/10.