Lucky Christmas

This is not really a Christmas film, it's a romance set at Christmas time. So there's no real festive spirit or seasonal joy.

What you do get though is a more realistic, than normal, love story. Elizabeth Berkley does a great job playing the struggling mother who wants to give her son everything while having the job she dreams of. She works hard at three jobs trying to bring her dreams to fruition. So when she wins the lottery all her dreams come true... only to be ripped to shreds when her car is "borrowed", along with the winning lottery ticket. She does a great job showing the emotional roller-coaster she's on... and before things get better they get worse.

Jason Grey-Stanford does a passable job of depicting the charmer who, unintentionally gets pulled into Elizabeth Berkley's life. There are a few laughs and heartwarming moments along the way, but I doff my cap to the writers and director for taking a more realistic storytelling path.

In all the glitzy, schmaltzy, Christmas tales this is a breath of fresh air; one that I would recommend. If it's repeated in a couple of years I'll probably give it a second viewing.

About ten minutes into this Hallmark Christmas movie, I was thinking that this was going to a variation on Rene Clair's 1931 movie, LE MILLION, in which a poor man in a Paris tenement wins the big lottery -- and loses the ticket. Alas, despite some good acting, particularly from Jason Gray-Stanford, best known for his role as the klutzy police detective in the MONK TV series and good work by Elizabeth Berkley as the chef who could really use the million-dollar lottery ticket, this is a rather straightforward story without much in the way of jokes .... a comedy if not a farce. In addition, the problems that hang over the movie for almost its entire length serve not to make it suspenseful -- will he figure out how to get that ticket back to her without blowing his chances? -- but mildly depressing.

Still, the story is a good one, the actors are very good and if the direction makes me think that the point is the money, rather than the people.... well, maybe it is.

A decent Hallmark Channel Original Movie starring Elizabeth Berkley (Saved By The Bell, Showgirls) and Jason Gray-Stanford (the clutzy detective on Monk.) Both turned in pretty good performances in this quite predictable average romance set at Christmastime. It really has very little do with Christmas, which is sad because that's what a freakin' Christmas movie should be -- Christmasy! But with so many produced for television every year, many of the stories are stale yada yada yada that could almost just as easily take place in August. This is one of those. Not too terrible, though. Surely could be a lot worse but when it comes to their Made-for-TV movies, Hallmark Channel routinely has at least average productions... and if you know their cards, they're dripping with sap.

--A Kat Pirate Screener

The run up to Christmas is the one time of year I am prepared to watch predictable and cheesy films.

This film is just about as predictable as it gets, you know what is coming from the first minute and you aren't proved wrong. Sometimes however you really do just want to watch something undemanding and this fits the bill.

What makes this an above average TV Movie is the cast. It suddenly clicked halfway through that Elizabeth Berkeley is the 'star' of the infamous 'Showgirls'- but she is OK in this movie. The real star however is Jason Gray-Stanford who I thought excellent in this.

I watched this film with my wife and kids and we all enjoyed it so I recommend it to those who know what to expect.

Not one of the best but still well worth watching, I just love the theme in these movies. Yes, I recommend it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 12/28/2021.