Lacking the pizazz of the original 1945 holiday classic, this is a needless remake of a perennial crowd pleaser. Dyan Cannon isn't horrible, but she's not exactly convincing as a homespun TV hostess who would be calling her local library for a recipe for ice cubes. Of course, Barbara Stanwyck was completely charming in her naivete, even as a follow-up for the film noir classic "Double Indemnity". It really stretches the imagination to think of Dyan Cannon as a combination of Martha Stewart, Julia Child and Paula Deen, and there's no way in the early 90s that Hotshot pilot Kris Kristofferson would ever be as naive as to think she was who she claims to be here. She goes through the motions of trying to charm, but it's like listening to jingle bells on an accordion. Tony Curtis, as her boss, is certainly no Sydney Greenstreet and comes off as a bit of a pervert in his attempts to pretend to be Cannon's husband. Kristofferson has no spark at all, far too old in the Dennis Morgan part.
The original script has been altered to give Cannon a fake family, including an out-of-work actor she pulls off the street to be her son-in-law. From the supporting cast of unknown actors, only Vivian Bonnell add any homes in the Una O'Connor role, and instead of British Cockney, she's African-American. That's supposed to give her a little bit of spice, but Bonnell wisely under plays that even as she repeats O'Connor's famous line regarding pancakes, "I don't flip. I scoop." The lack of an S.Z. Sakall type chef (arguing with O'Connor over the difference between goulash and Irish Stew) eliminates much of the comedy.
Other supporting characters add nothing to the pack of holiday festivities, and are unbelievably oddball in a way that makes them unwatchable. The script is weak and the direction (by Arnold Schwarzenegger) completely uninspired. They successfully remade several Christmas classics, but this is by far the weakest, a true travesty coming from TNT and classic film lover Ted Turner. No amount of Christmas carols or holly jolly interspersed with the dull antics could melt my heart in viewing this.
The original script has been altered to give Cannon a fake family, including an out-of-work actor she pulls off the street to be her son-in-law. From the supporting cast of unknown actors, only Vivian Bonnell add any homes in the Una O'Connor role, and instead of British Cockney, she's African-American. That's supposed to give her a little bit of spice, but Bonnell wisely under plays that even as she repeats O'Connor's famous line regarding pancakes, "I don't flip. I scoop." The lack of an S.Z. Sakall type chef (arguing with O'Connor over the difference between goulash and Irish Stew) eliminates much of the comedy.
Other supporting characters add nothing to the pack of holiday festivities, and are unbelievably oddball in a way that makes them unwatchable. The script is weak and the direction (by Arnold Schwarzenegger) completely uninspired. They successfully remade several Christmas classics, but this is by far the weakest, a true travesty coming from TNT and classic film lover Ted Turner. No amount of Christmas carols or holly jolly interspersed with the dull antics could melt my heart in viewing this.