Christmas-Reviewer
This well meaning Christmas film serves every dish and trick in the book but the last 10 minutes are great. In this film a woman named Paula is married for 18 years to her high school sweet heart. Money is very tight and what make matters worse is the fact that is Christmas. Her husband however is a great guy but she doesn't see it. Money or lack of money is all she see's and blames him for her unhappiness. One day while walking around town she sees a former boyfriend from school. He is rich and successful and has a life that Paula truly wants. One morning she wakes up and finds herself in an alternate universe. She is now married to her former boyfriend but life is not great in this universe. In this universe she has money but not much else. Now this movie is worth watching because the last 10 minutes are wonderful.
Zoooma
In my quest to watch every Christmas movie ever made, this was randomly next. Made-for-Lifetime television, it really wasn't that great. Woman switches her hectic, worrisome life with another so that she can realize just how great she had it. You don't need millions of dollars, furs, closetful of shoes and dresses, and a Mercedes when you don't have love. La di frickin' da. How many times has this story been done? On the positive -- Nicole Eggert! (Charles In Charge, Baywatch.) I'd watch anything with her! And it was kind of Christmasy compared to many Made-for-TV Christmas movies. Stupid title, should have at least called it Christmas Switch and it's never explained why she got switched. Eh, whatever. Not recommended.5.2 / 10--A Kat Pirate Screener
statuskuo
It's not bad. And the message is sincere. So it's a really nice Xmas tale. However, some of you may have seen a movie with Nicolas Cage called "The Family Man", in it, Cage had a choice too...whether or not to drop a life of family for a cold lifestyle of unlimited riches and hedonistic pleasures. This is slightly different in that Eggert's Paula is a ball-buster, shallow materialistic witch. This was BEFORE she goes on this journey. To me, it may be too big of a leap of faith to think that her life would've changed all that much, and the "lesson" learned would cause her to bow.Both stories answer the question. Only one seems to have been bolted in ambiguity. And therefore, more honest.What I enjoyed a lot is the performances. Paula could destroy a man's will to live. And it would take a man as sincere and morally tough to sustain this "abuse". The man in question is Gary (Bret Anthony) who is a loving husband and a devoted father to two girls. He's EXACTLY what Lifetime movies dream of when it comes to ideal men. He's brow-beaten but still remains so optimistic. Challenges his wife to dance (what woman wouldn't want this?). So why in the world would Paula want anyone else?Because the grass is always greener. Strip the riches and see the man...and the filmmaker argues, is your choice. No one is bad in this movie. I like that. Paula seems to be her worst enemy. Even as we start to blame her "dream world" husband we realize it isn't him who developed the toxic relationship...it was Paula...it's always been Paula. So we're left to conclude, Gary is a stronger man than we'd suspected in the beginning.Yes, it's a contrivance. More appreciated during the holiday season. It has a good core with really nice performances. The pre-requisit shopping spree montage is wrangled in. Eggert goes from frumpy Mom with baggy Mom pants to stunning...easily. And it ends the way you want it to.
HallmarkMovieBuff
Alice fell down the rabbit hole and found Wonderland. Lucy stepped through the wardrobe and discovered Narnia.Once we had "Alice Through the Looking Glass." Here we have grown-up Paula (Nicole Eggert) crawling through the clothes dryer (of all places!) into an alternate life of what might have been had she married the "other guy," the rich gallery owner, instead of her handyman husband who has trouble finding steady work.But when Paula learns what her alternate life is really like, and that she had already filed for a divorce from her "other guy," she wants desperately to reclaim her old, her rightful life. Trouble is, when she makes like Dorothy and literally tries clicking her heels to get back, it doesn't work. Neither, seemingly, does anything else...until something does.This same idea of dreaming up an alternate life was used again a year later in "The Mrs. Clause (2008)" (shown here in the United States under the title, "The Christmas Clause,") but much less effectively.
