jjflor I watched this on Hulu, as it had a good rating. The movie has horrible acting and a bad script. This was probably one of the worse movies I've seen. It seemed like a church got together and auditioned members to be in this movie. The characters were very one dimensional and the acting was really bad. No one talks like that, argues like that. The people were very corny, I think the only one that did a good job would be the person that was getting them approved for food stamps. If your looking for a Christmas movie any other movie would do.

dancinqueen47 Prior to watching this on Hulu I came to this site to read reviews. Based on several good reviews I read here and because I generally enjoy movies based on true stories, I decided to watch. I am now halfway through this and am ready to throw in the towel. I could not disagree more with the reviewers here who are of the opinion that this is a good movie. In particular, the acting is possibly the worst I have seen. Worthy of special mention for extremely bad acting are: Michael Wilhelm (Mr. Fergusson). He was especially awful. Worse yet, was Brad Stein (the "crazy supermarket manager"). To stand out in the crowd of horrific actors in this film is quite an achievement. Obviously, the direction was also terrible, for this group to be encouraged to act as poorly as they did. This movie makes the Lifetime movies seem Oscar worthy. IMO, spending 105 minutes watching paint dry would be more entertaining - and a better use of time - than viewing this.

jenniferk16 This was a cute and wholesome movie with a good moral.However, the acting was a bit rehearsed...as in never left dress rehearsal. I did read that the whole budget was only $20,000 and the acting was done for free...so in that regards I guess it was not bad. Here is my gripe....I could never suspend disbelief during the movie. It kept me from connecting to the movie, it's characters, and even the message to a degree.Picture this...you lose your job...your utilities are being disconnected, you can't feed your family and must apply for food stamps...yet you drive 2 newer cars and have a baby grand sitting in your living room...picture this...you are going to lose your home in 5 days...you have snowball fights and cookouts and are willing to spend you last $40 on a dinner out (who needs gas in your only remaining vehicle?!). I'm sorry, I just couldn't get past it. Why not sell some stuff to get by? Anything is better than nothing when you are about to lose it all.So, yes, good overall moral message...but I do not see how people gave this movie 10 stars. I give it 5. It was OK, but it just made me angry at times. I couldn't suspend disbelief to connect to the movie very well.

zimbo_the_donkey_boy It's a bad sign when the little kids are better actors than the adults in a movie. I must admit that this flick did do a good job of capturing the ethos of low-life trash. However I was jarred when, rather than those trash learning how to take control of their lives and redeeming themselves, they ended the movie as the same low-lifes but the heroes of the town. The main point of the story was that, when the mean old world is bad to you, you look around for signs from God telling you how to make the best of your bad situations. That is Christianity? No, it is not. Heroes are bums living in the park because the economy is bad, waiting for handouts or a top executive position to drop into his lap, rather than people shucking all their bad habits and taking steps to climb out of the gutter? Not in my world. Nor is the movie very well-made.How many of these almost universal ten-star voters are regular IMDb posters? 40 of the 43 other reviewers here (so far) have made this their only IMDb review ever! 3 other (besides me) reviewers have found this movie wanting. Why is almost every reviewer listed simply as "from United States"? Apparently to try to disguise their all being connected (as in either the same person or all knowing each other). Does the IMDb look kindly on this "Christian" way of trying to share info about a movie? I hope not.