A Family Thanksgiving (2010)

A wealthy, successful corporate lawyer (Daphne Zuniga, “One Tree Hill”) is living the high life in New York City with little time for anything except her lavish lifestyle until a close encounter with a bizarre mystic (Academy Award® Winner Faye Dunaway, “Network”) drops her into an alternative reality to see what her life might have been like had she made different choices.- The Hallmark Channel

Director: Neill Fearnley
Writer: Emily Baer

They are not hiding it.  This movie could have been given the title, "FAMILY WOMAN".  It's almost exactly the same, less the big screen/cinematic elements the Nicolas Cage starrer that awed the viewers, prompting them to talk about "them" over coffee, dinner or what have you.  

Still, this one warms the heart.  True, not everyone needs a person of the opposite gender or another person of the same gender to be complete, but sometimes we overlook people who notice us, but just don't know how to approach us or tell us how they truly feel.

Warning, there will be a few spoilers below:

Let me compare this with a similar story: A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS.  It's almost the same, except that with Lacey's Christmas story, her character gave up her career and chose her family.  Whereas in this story, she did give up her big leagues career, chose to be a family woman instead, but she was still able to practice law.  There's balance in this story, and Daphne who plays Claudia has great chemistry with DAN PAYNE, who plays Bill.  She was in her forties when this was filmed, but there's no mention of who is older or whatever else, so she could've been playing her age.  She was a hotshot lawyer when they finally gave each other the time of day at the coffee shop where they usually bump into each other.  Dan Payne's smile is so captivating.  Hmmm.  I've used that description before, I know, but he really is more than just appealing.  He is very handsome, and he acts well too.

The children, especially the little girl named Amy, as played by KENNEDI CLEMENTS, are naturals. NICOLAI GUISTRA plays Jake, the eldest child(well, the little girl fought her brother about diaper change and it was kind of hard to unsee, but a few minutes later they were friends again).

GINA HOLDEN plays Jen, a younger sister anyone would dream of having.

Of course, we must not forget Ms. FAYE DUNAWAY who plays a Transpersonal Psychologist named Gina.  Needless to say, she made her role of a fairy godmother  more interesting than usual.

The other members of the cast like Becca played by PASCALE HUTTON, Al, the head of the security at Claudia's law firm, played by DEE JAY JACKSON, plus many others including this movie's Director, NEILL FEARNLEY who played Mr. Skinton, Claudia's boss, did their jobs well.

Sigh.

I love this movie.  I know, I know.  I can only speak for myself, and that's what I am doing...I mean, I did. 

Oh, and by the way, I watched this more than once, and not a single second was wasted and I even appreciated it more the second time.

Thanks a bunch for your time.