Holiday Switch (2007) Reviews

• A great Christmas feast for the heart!

  planetapeman2008-12-24

  I found this a heartwarming and fun movie to enjoy during the holiday season. Nicole Eggert is wonderful as a frustrated housewife who yearns for the magic only a former high school flame can recapture. Can't we imagine how our lives might have been different had we married the other crush? Nicole gets this opportunity to explore that luxurious life she's always wanted. Yet the question remains: does it bring her happiness? The set design is lush and colorful. Brett Anthony and Bret Le Bourveau are great as the two competing love interests. Also, her daughters are cute but also realistically depicted as girls who just want their mom to be happy this Christmas, freed from the burdens of debt and financial woes. Truly magical and touching, this quirky, often moving film will have you reaching for the Kleenex by the end. It has sparkle and charm that will whisk you away on an enjoyable journey that only comes once a year!

• Paula Through the Clothes Dryer

  HallmarkMovieBuff2009-12-12

  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.

• The Family Woman

  statuskuo2011-12-31

  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.

• A woman gets what she wants for Christmas - her old life

  shandrick2008-12-24

  What Holiday Switch promises it delivers in a surprisingly warm and generous way. This cable movie was shown in 2007 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Night and will be again this year. This story is entirely original, not relying on the prosaic narratives of Christmas past but creates a modern twist in our love of the material world. "Switch" uses a "what if" scenario to get us to identify with the main character in her search for material perfection. The superlative cast of actors conspire to ask emotionally loaded questions we sometime ask ourselves during this time of year: could I have done better? The production carries this off without hyperbole, so often seen in Christmas fare. The story lets the charged moments speak for themselves as one woman struggles her way back to a life she had rejected. At first, we are charmed by illusion, just as she is, but once we identify with her plight we might find an answer to a question we all asked once before on Christmas.

• Fun twist on alternate reality plot

  jk-692-2363942018-12-30

  I quite liked this one. I felt they covered the ground of switching places or making a different choice in your life in a interesting and well done way. The actors all did a good job. I was never bored and I enjoyed this movie. Christmas is more of a plot device than the feeling of Christmas as a whole. Also I like it when movies do not make cliche villains out certain characters. I consider that lazy writing. This movie avoids that.