How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale

This movie totally surprised me. I actually turned on the tube to watch something else, but this movie turned out to be on instead. And sure, the title "How to Marry a Billionaire" only made me think of that ridiculous TV stunt a while back, so I was only going to watch it until I could verify how bad it would be. Boy was I surprised! What this movie really has going for it is the writing and the perfectly timed comedic acting. Sure, the story's fairly cliched (true love is better than money, etc., etc.) but the ride is totally funny and entertaining. The three lead actors are all *very* funny in this, and there are some great moments with the supporting cast. Their timing and rapport feels authentic and some of the jokes are laugh-out-loud hilarious (some of the gags are still repeating themselves in my head as I write this).

I dunno why more TV movies aren't this good. I'd certainly stay tuned to more of them if they were. The cast all seemed to be having a great time; you'd have to be totally humourless not to crack a smile. So as long as you don't expect *too* much, you'll have a great time wasting a couple hours. Kudos to anyone involved for putting in the extra effort.

Remaking old classic movies seems to be a trend the last few years. Whether it's on the big screen or on the small screen, audiences have been inundated with remakes. How To Marry A Billionaire is a hip, up-to-date take on Jean Negulesco's How To Marry A Millionaire. The story of three money-seeking women who set out to marry three millionaires. As anyone who has seen the film remembers the story concluded with the ladies redeeming themselves when they choose love over money and then getting both.

In How To Marry A Billionaire, the concept is similar but the tables are turned, as this time, it's three men looking for rich women. The characters are similar with John Stamos, as Tom, heading up the charge playing Bacall's intelligent, scheming character. Shemar Moore, as Jason, is the dim-witted, but kind-hearted ladies man/want-to-be-actor, he is obviously doing Monroe's character. Joshua Malina, as Mark, plays the deep-thinking, conservative character that Grable nailed down in the original.

The three poor bachelors pass themselves off a mega-rich movie producers in an attempt to land an equally rich partner and get married. The three soon find that the idea is much harder to pull off as they had originally thought, whenever emotions are involved, it usually is.

A truly sweet love story arises when Tom befriends a lonely painter on the beach, played by Gabrielle Anwar. She isn't rich but she has a kind heart and before long Tom is falling in love with her.

Will Tom choose love over money? Will Jason gets his big role? Will Mark realize something about himself that he had been suppressing all his life? Something that Grable was never allowed to reveal back in the 50's. You have to watch to find out. I'll let you in on a secret, the film is a remake remember.

Rod Daniel (Alley Cats Strike) is such a talented director that it boggles the mind to know that he is making TV-movies while guys like Danny Cannon are being allowed to direct big-budget Hollywood features. Anyways, try and check this movie out next time it comes on!

Why anyone would bill it as a Christmas movie is beyond me. It's just a fun and silly farce about three guys trying to snag one or more rich wives. The actors are reasonably well matched to the characters that they play, and there is the usual assortment of hijinks.

Movie fizzled out. By 3/4 through it, waiting for the end to come. Completely lost my interest. For a 8:00pm viewing, had things that were inappropriate for that time slot. Acting was good on a whole but some actresses were very boring.

I only started watching this because of the West Wing connection (i.e. Joshua Malina was given second billing) but it was much better than I'd expected from reading the blurb. I found it to be a funny, well-written (if somewhat cliched) piece with strong performances all round, and a cute poodle. It reminded me a lot of "Scrubs" and is certainly worth higher than a lousy 4.4 you guys! (The same score, incidentally as "Legally Blond 2" - Please!)