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Finding John Christmas
When a photojournalist photographs a mysterious stranger performing an act of bravery, the act quickly becomes headline news and the town dubs the stranger John Christmas. After seeing the photo, Kathleen McAllister becomes convinced that the mysterious stranger is in fact her long-lost brother Hank. With the town's help, Kathleen and Noah set about to find the stranger's true identity with the help Max, a Christmas angel.
Release : | 2003 |
Rating : | 6.3 |
Studio : | Daniel H. Blatt Productions, Viacom Productions, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
Cast : | Valerie Bertinelli David Cubitt William Russ Peter Falk Maria Ricossa |
Genre : | Family TV Movie |
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Excellent but underrated film
As Good As It Gets
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
William Russ is the main character throughout this made for TV movie. He left his family behind to only reappear and begin paying off his debts. But he tries to keep away from his family. Thats where Peter Falk (Colombo) comes in, playing several different roles, to convince him to come home.The story is average and they actually managed to get a former star (Peter Falk) and use him to a fairly nice degree. But William Russ wasn't truly a star. However, it appears his acting is still OK.I found the delivery and story very cheesy in how everything was predictable. In fact, the last 20 minutes I could almost dictate word for word before it happened. A good movie should never be like that.Overall, it was a sub-par movie. In a letter grading system, it would receive a "D".
From a poorly contrived plot line that makes almost no sense to bad dialogue and disjointed scenes to the ultimate downer, bad acting (even Peter Falk can't find his way) "Finding John Christmas" is better left lost. Ms. Bertinelli's performance is without depth or emotion as are her co-stars, William Russ as brother Hank and David Cubitt as love interest Noah. Jennifer Pisana as Soccoro, the daughter of single dad Noah is almost unbearable to watch let alone listen to singing. But who can blame them with material like this. Michael J. Murray's script is juvenile at best. Each year at this time I search the TV guides and wait anxiously for some of the really classic Christmas and inspirational holiday films to appear on the small screen. Films like "Miracle on 34th Street", Ernst Lubitsch's delightful "The shop around the corner" and, of course the 1951 version of "Scrooge". There's Frank Capra's classics "It's a wonderful life" and "Meet John Doe". Hey, forget the classics. What about "Home Alone" or " Home for the Holidays" with Holly Hunter and a great performance by Robert Downey Jr.? My present to you is by way of advice. Your time would be better spent searching out these films than finding "Finding John Christmas". Merry Christmas!
A wonderful movie with a definite direction on where it wants to take the viewer. I loved the sub plots. The element of surprise that came with Noah's revelation to Hank was wonderful. Peter Falk's Max was the balance check that prevented any overflow of sugar. At times the character of Max was a bit much. Much of the character's dialogue was to deflect when the opposite character begins to figure things out, however, the technique began to get overbearing. It wasn't until the hand on the shoulder "it's good to see you again" to Hank that I felt that all of the information was revealed.The movie deserves a good sequel so we can see what happens in Hank's life and of course Kathleen, Noah and the kid.
Like its predecessor, I wish I had taped this wonderful film. An outstanding film that lets us realize there's more to us than ourselves, this film allows us to see that debts (& not just monetary) need to be paid, & that our actions affect others, even in the long run.It's great to see Peter Falk continuing in the role of Max, the angel whose work is never done, & affects so many. His minutes onscreen aren't as many, but Oh! How he makes the most of them! No offense to any other cast members, but he's the reason for watching this fine film.This is a film to watch again & again & again!BRAVO!