A friendlier version of the Ghost of Christmas Future
D. J. Nardi | Ann Arbor, MI | 12/13/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"After seeing this movie, I thought immediately to Charles Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Future in "The Christmas Carol." That's essentially what Comfort and Joy is about. The main character, Jane, relives a portion of her future, which she finds more pleasant than her current life. Like the Ghost of Christmas Future, the vision allows Jane to see what was wrong with the "old Jane" and how to life life in accord with the Christmas spirit.
I knocked this movie down a star because, while I love the concept, it does look like a made-for-TV movie. The characters are decent, but sometimes a little to wholesome (particularly Sam, Jane's future husband). There really is never any climax to the movie, and it ends rather abruptly. And the cuts to commercials are a bit too obvious. Some of this is simply the editing job as Lifetime transferred the movie from TV to DVD. Still, it just feels like it reached less than its potential."
