I really wish I'd bailed on this film after the first 30 minutes.
So we start with a very unhappy marriage -- with a workaholic protagonist -- and end with an unsatisfying and unconvincing resolution. (If the protagonist is meant to be transformed/reborn at the end, shouldn't he at least show a little emotion?)
Another reviewer mentioned having to pay attention and perhaps my concentration lapsed a little, but I did wonder at one point whether there was a "Christmas miracle" that saw a wooden baby from a Nativity scene transmogrify into a flesh-and-blood baby. (That, at least, might have explained the wooden performance.)
And while I thought the Judge's motivation was reasonably clear, I never understood the Sheriff's. It seemed like the Sheriff was there as a plot device to throw the protagonist together with the Judge (i.e. by slashing his tyres).
I suspect the blame lies at the door of a poor script and poor casting, esp. of the protagonist.
So we start with a very unhappy marriage -- with a workaholic protagonist -- and end with an unsatisfying and unconvincing resolution. (If the protagonist is meant to be transformed/reborn at the end, shouldn't he at least show a little emotion?)
Another reviewer mentioned having to pay attention and perhaps my concentration lapsed a little, but I did wonder at one point whether there was a "Christmas miracle" that saw a wooden baby from a Nativity scene transmogrify into a flesh-and-blood baby. (That, at least, might have explained the wooden performance.)
And while I thought the Judge's motivation was reasonably clear, I never understood the Sheriff's. It seemed like the Sheriff was there as a plot device to throw the protagonist together with the Judge (i.e. by slashing his tyres).
I suspect the blame lies at the door of a poor script and poor casting, esp. of the protagonist.