A Family Thanksgiving (2010)

A lawyer trying to make partner is shown the joys of living a more balanced life.

Director:

Neill Fearnley

Writer:

Emily Baer

Stars:

Daphne Zuniga, Dan Payne, Gina Holden

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daphne Zuniga	...	Claudia
Dan Payne	...	Bill
Gina Holden	...	Jen
Kennedi Clements	...	Amy
Nicolai Giustra	...	Jake (as Nicolai Lawton-Glustra)
Faye Dunaway	...	Gina
Pascale Hutton	...	Becca
Neill Fearnley	...	John Skinton
Kyra Zagorsky	...	Megan
Lauren Cochrane	...	Jessica
Ryan Biel	...	Coffee Shop Employee
Dee Jay Jackson	...	Al
Ashé Sabongui	...	Alli
Jakob Davies	...	Harper
Kirby Morrow	...	Tim

Storyline

A wealthy, successful corporate lawyer is living the high life in San Francisco with little time for anything except her lavish lifestyle until a close encounter with a bizarre mystic drops her into an alternative reality to see what her life might have been like had she made different choices.

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Plot Keywords:

thanksgiving | 

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Taglines:

A Holiday Miracle Will Help Her Realize What She's Been Missing

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The house belonging to Claudia and Bill is quite prominently numbered "9120", a reference to Daphne Zuniga's previous show "Melrose Place" (which was a spin off of "Beverly Hills 90210" and also took place in the 90210 area code).

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Quotes

Claudia: Not every woman needs 2.5 kids and a husband and a mini-van to complete her. My friends are my family, that firm is my spouse, I wake up every morning, a happy, single, successful woman, wondering what on earth could I possibly need?
Gina: Ha-ha! So you got it all figured out huh?
Claudia: Yeah. Pretty much.
Gina: Well, I guess we will see.
Claudia: I know what I want and I'm getting it. We're done. Stop the car! Get out.

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Soundtracks

Hotel Lobby
written by Peter Allen
performed by Peter Allen

User Reviews

Achieving a balanced life

Single, high-flying attorney Claudia (Daphne Zuniga), tops in her class at Harvard Law, is focused on one thing: her career, and making partner at her this-is-your-only-life law firm. Her drive for success has predictably made her miss countless family events, and is about to do the same with this year's Thanksgiving at her sister's (Gina Holden, playing a stay-at-home mom), when Claudia is suddenly thrust by a mysterious figure (Faye Dunaway) into an alternate reality wherein she had given up the idea of practicing law years before in favor of having a husband (Dan Payne) and two children.

If this story sounds somewhat familiar, perhaps you saw The Christmas Clause (TV 2008). The current movie takes the basic idea of the former, resets it from Christmas to Thanksgiving, and flips the situation, i.e., instead of a mom with three kids shown what her life would be like as a successful lawyer with all the material goods she could possibly desire, here the lawyer becomes the mom and is shown how much richer her life could be if she broadened her focus and looked beyond her career as the sole purpose of her life.

While both movies take a similar route to reach a common goal, this "remake" is executed much more adeptly, and while still firmly rooted in the traditional Hallmark mold and formula, "Thanksgiving" dispenses with many of the clichés which made "Christmas" merely pedestrian.

The acting here is uniformly good, but young Kennedi Clements as Claudia's alternate reality daughter, is a heart-stealer in this, her apparent movie debut.

Details

Official Sites:

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 November 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Family Thanksgiving

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Channel, Larkin-Goldstein Productions, Pflu Pflug Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Color:

Color