Une seconde chance à Noël

I have been a fan of Nancy McKeon since her "Facts of Life" days. She always made interesting films and this was no exception.

Now I know people get sick & tired twists on "It's a Wonderful Life" but this in reality isn't that. What this is about a modern woman who is riding high in her career and she doesn't ever see herself married with children. Then On Christmas Eve day she gets in a car wreck and wakes up to find herself married to a man she has never met. She also has 2 children.

The film is worth watching because the cast is great and they make the materiel pop. The dinner table scene at the end makes this worth watching. I cried because I have been in situations with a parent criticizing everything about my life and someone that I loved having my back!

Seek this film out. It is a winner

This is a lovely and charming Christmas movie. It's well written and well acted, with a clear storyline from beginning to end. No, you don't know why and you won't know why or how Jane remembers this other life she never lived, but you don't know the how or why of the fantasy of It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol either - or of all the other movies that feature a character who has some kind of awakening on Christmas Eve.

Comfort and Joy is a thoroughly enjoyable movie about finding the life you never knew you really wanted. It has a positive message, but it isn't the slightest bit sentimental or sugar-coated.

I'm delighted to have found Comfort and Joy; it's a great addition to our Christmas movie collection. I look forward to watching it every year along with all of our other favourites.

Review Date 2/6/2018

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. I HAVE OVER 400 REVIEWS OF "CHRISTMAS RELATED FILMS & SPECIALS" WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review.

Comfort and Joy is a TV movie directed by Maggie Greenwald, originally airing on the Lifetime cable network in 2003. It starred Nancy McKeon as Jane Berry. The life of Jane Berry was all materialist, until one Christmas Eve, she is involved in a car accident that changes her life forever. She wakes up to discover she is the mother of two, a wife and that her only job is in the house, besides her frequent volunteer work

This is so well made and just a huge delight to watch. It delivers on what is promised and has enough twist on a familiar premise that the film will hold your interest. In fact once you see it "You might want to see it again"

A young career-minded woman has an accident and wakes up married with 2 children and a husband who works in a homeless shelter and drug rehab center. She is aghast to find that out because she is a "scrooge" type of person. Sounds familiar? One might call this a preview of an alternative life style. This easily reminds us of a great movie in the past, "It is A Wonderful Life" with James Stewart. It is actually rather nice to be able to see what your life will be like in 10 years. The trouble is that you might not be able to change anything even knowing what is coming. She could have been married to a gangster or a murderer. The acting is quite light weight. Nancy McKeon seems to be going through the motion. She treats her drastic change as if she found herself wearing a different outfit and wondering how it happens. The husband is unconvincingly nonchalant as is the 'doctor'. Post traumatic amnesia requires at least a hospital visit. However there is a small bright spot in this other lackluster movie; it is Dixie Carter as the insufferable mother with a Southern accent. One must not forget that this is a fantasy, one in which explanations are unnecessary about details like why Jane has not aged in 10 years. The movie is a minor variation on the same age-old theme. Do accept the imperfections and enjoy this little bonbon; it is, after all, Christmas.

After a mishap on the road, single advertising vice-president Nancy McKeon (as Jane Berry) finds herself married, with children. All mixed up, Ms. McKeon has apparently landed ten years in the future. You won't know what's going on until the end, but you may have seen this story before. They're calling it "situational amnesia." McKeon has traded her male model-type boyfriend for snuggly Steven Eckholdt (as Sam Keller), the director of a drug and alcohol center for the homeless. McKeon's work has become mothering two cute kids, cooking, cleaning and volunteering for churchy Connecticut groups. Funniest scenes involve bickering parents Paul Dooley and Dixie Carter (as George and Frederica Berry). Most tired scene involves McKeon's Jewish pal and four swishy Christmas chums watching "Sunset Boulevard" with Gloria Swanson. She's right, "It's the pictures that got small."

**** Comfort and Joy (12/1/03) Maggie Greenwald ~ Nancy McKeon, Steven Eckholdt, Dixie Carter, Paul Dooley