Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

ruthann-renaud I first saw this on TV in the late 1970s. My family and I were curious as to how Marlo Thomas and troupe would handle a genuine film classic. The title of my summary says it all: "Well intended but misfired." All that is different is the gender reversal. Otherwise, it's the same basic story as the movie...same plot line, same characters, same situations, etc. It's hard to knock a nice lady like Marlo Thomas who was so good as "That Girl" and as a feminist actress and activist or a lady like Cloris Leachman who just keeps getting better with age but the story just seems to work better with James Stewart, Donna Reed, etc. ...the reworking just doesn't seem to cut it. Leonard Maltin gave this a lukewarm review in his book of movie reviews saying it was "earnestly made." I would agree saying (again) it was well-intended but ultimately misfired. Everybody seemed to want to do well with the material but it just didn't come through.

Steve Matrai I don't know if it was because of the time in my life but this movie was so special in my heart. It's a wonderful life might as well been the remake of this. I love, love, loved this movie.. just one question --were did it go, it fell off the face of the earth, I think it came out again maybe 2 years after, then gone for good.I would love to know why this movie isn't around anymore, never replayed on TV anymore, I don't know what kind of rating it got but if it was a poor rating, that was unjust! I stand behind the many comments you see here. What I would love to see in this order is, at best to at least...At best: A faithful 1080p (1920x1080) release of this movie in HD with 5.1 sound as a blue-ray or HD-DVD release. I don't know that even the original master, even if it had this resolution has the color quality but if it could look great, it would be extra special.That it starts to come up on, at least, a cable channel such as, maybe, TBS or USA or even just regular television during the pre-Christmas season or just about any time of the year.At least: As a standard DVD release.Please, please somehow bring this back.Thanks

xxxray69 The people that thought that this was a good remake must be smoking crack.This whole "reverse" concept was dumb and the acting was horrible. The main reason why the original movie was so good and special was that for the duration of the movie I had a complete suspension of disbelief. I believed that I was watching George Bailey not Jimmy Stewart. In the remake, all I could see was Margo Thomas and not "Mary" Bailey.All I could think while I was watching the movie was, "Why is Marlo Thomas ruining her career by doing this movie and why is she hanging out with 'Trapper' from 'MASH'?" Everyone, do yourself a favour and DO NOT watch this movie and ruin your Christmas. Stay with the original Jimmy Stewart version--It's a Classic and should not be tampered with.But for those of us who's already seen this remake, we are all now more dumb and more retarded for having watched it.

seduffy I assume slamming "It's a Wonderful Life" is probably like knocking the book "A Christmas Carol"--both are sacred, no matter how sick people actually are of them (are the round-the- clock showings of "Wonderful" really necessary?). I'm another one who saw this remake first, and then attempted to watch the original. I suspect that 1930s-era film may be one of the most difficult periods for modern audiences to appreciate. I found the original "It's a Wonderful Life" impossible to watch--saccharine and sappy in the extreme. The characters in the remake were much more believable, and to me this was a very successful update. The pain of both the main characters--Rogers' character, returning from WWII with a permanent injury, and Thomas' lead, who is trapped in a life she didn't plan for-- are quite realistic. Thomas seems *genuinely* suicidal; the causes of her depression are clear, and also, like a depressed person, she has become isolated from her family and is snapping at those around her. The premise of the original film, if you think about it, is quite serious; it has a kind of "Our Town" melancholy hanging over it, but this seems lost amid layers of hoke in the very dated original. I haven't seen "It Happened One Christmas" in years, and keep hoping in vain that it will be re-released, or at least shown at Christmastime.