Together Again for the First Time

Drama and turmoil (two key ingredients of any family Christmas, correct?) are difficult to combine with genuinely-funny comedy...but "Together Again for the First Time" does a credible job of blending disparate elements and creating solid entertainment.

The two parents are strongly cast, even though the characters themselves seem rather week and lily-livered, and most of the adult-children roles are played well.

Perhaps we've become somewhat numbed and don't expect much from Christmas cable fare anymore, but this little movie was genuinely engaging and is far better than most from the genre. Many scenes are laugh-out-loud funny (i.e., "fabric balls"), but many are also bitter and harsh in their cruel and honest reality.

I quickly found myself caring about several of the characters, something necessary for me if I'm to enjoy any sort of program. Lots of these guys hooked me early on, and I was sincerely interested in the outcome of their pending holiday disaster.

Catch this one when it comes on again (and I certainly hope it does). No, you won't be surprised by the formulaic ending, but I can pretty well promise you'll enjoy the ride along the way.

This is not an outstanding movie, or even one that pleasant to watch, but it is enjoyable in its way. Somehow I couldn't just enjoy these people's misery as much as I would have liked to.

Julia Duffy and David Ogden Stiers both do a good job. I know Duffy best as Stephanie on "Newhart", though she's somewhat more mature here. Seeing Stiers as wimpy is kind of surprising if you know the Charles Emerson Winchester character, but he does it well and even manages to show some courage later.

There are appealing spoiled brats, but Sandra does not manage to be one of them. But her change in behavior later does show enough range to make up for what we saw earlier.

Chinelle is adorable. Joey Lawrence, meanwhile, shows no similarities to his "Blossom" character. He looks like a punk rocker and is about as appealing, though he's more Moby than Billy Idol.

Kirby Heyborne--who looks to me like Roger Daltrey-- is appealing enough and manages to carry the movie with occasional narration, along with being one of the more normal characters.

The decorations are great. Most people say they wouldn't like to be in a house like that, but if I'm just looking at it, the overdone Christmas paradise is really nice.

You can imagine what the live Christmas broadcast is going to be like. But it's even worse than that: if you were laughing before, there is only one funny line between the TV show and the humorous final scenes. But the turn toward drams is not a bad thing.

There is some good music too. Not all of the music is my taste, but some of it is.

It's not a classic, but it's pleasant enough.