Stephen Abell 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.

adoptshelterpetstoday (what Hallmark Christmas movie isn't predictable, folks?) I absolutely loved this movie! Nothing corny, air-headed, or drab like some HC movies. Elizabeth Berkeley played a realistic, down-to-earth person in realistic situations perfectly: if anything can go wrong for a good, decent person, it will. "Holly," a lovely, sincere female, who was dealt an undeserved and unfair shafting, is struggling to make ends meet, as well as raising her son alone to the best of her ability....while desiring to fulfill a major goal as a café owner. Yet, there is always some scoundrel who tries to take advantage of her with her potential fortune........"Holly" came across as a very likable person, someone who would make a good, trustworthy friend.I didn't care for "Mike's" looks. His eyes seemed sinister and insincere. (It was like you didn't want her to be burnt again). But his heart was in the right place, and Elizabeth's appearance and performance wonderfully countered his expressions.........And finally, Wow! that was a nerve-wracking close call to 12 midnight! ***Congratulations, Holly!*** "Happy LEON!"

moonspinner55 Elizabeth Berkley is once again the freshest thing in an otherwise stale movie, this one made-for-TV. Sorry yuletide concoction attempts to equate car theft, a lottery win, ice hockey and last-chance boy-girl romance with the holiday spirit. Financially-strapped single mom (whose husband disappeared somewhat mysteriously before the story begins) has her car stolen with a special "Christmas lottery ticket" in the glove compartment. Of course the ticket is a winner--worth an underachieving one million dollars--and of course the guy involved in the car-nabbing is a handsome bachelor with a soft spot for struggling moms and their offspring. Berkley actually manages to make her scenes tender and believable, however the rest of this Hallmark Channel presentation is rather bedraggled.

boblipton 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.