Wordiezett So much average

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Stephen Abell This is not really a Christmas film, it's a romance set at Christmas time. So there's no real festive spirit or seasonal joy.What you do get though is a more realistic, than normal, love story. Elizabeth Berkley does a great job playing the struggling mother who wants to give her son everything while having the job she dreams of. She works hard at three jobs trying to bring her dreams to fruition. So when she wins the lottery all her dreams come true... only to be ripped to shreds when her car is "borrowed", along with the winning lottery ticket. She does a great job showing the emotional roller-coaster she's on... and before things get better they get worse.Jason Grey-Stanford does a passable job of depicting the charmer who, unintentionally gets pulled into Elizabeth Berkley's life. There are a few laughs and heartwarming moments along the way, but I doff my cap to the writers and director for taking a more realistic storytelling path.In all the glitzy, schmaltzy, Christmas tales this is a breath of fresh air; one that I would recommend. If it's repeated in a couple of years I'll probably give it a second viewing.

ceegee78 I am not usually too picky when it comes to cheesy holiday movies, and it takes a lot for me to not finish any show or movie once I have started watching it. However, I was so annoyed by the stupidity of the characters that I turned it off less than halfway through the movie. A Christmas movie should put you in the holiday spirit. Not this one. Instead of settling in to enjoy a festive movie, I became more and more irritated. The plot was convoluted and predictable. While I have no complaints about the majority of the actors and their performances, I could not stand to look at the leading man's buddy for one more minute. He was repulsive in character and so unappealing in appearance that it was hard to believe anyone would be his friend or go along with anything he wanted to do. I could not stand looking at him for another minute. If ignorance doesn't get under your skin, maybe you will enjoy it, but otherwise, avoid this movie at all costs!

findingdina What I like about this film is that it foregrounds class issues, two people who don't have much money, yet one holds a lottery ticket that belongs to the other. And, thus, it becomes this nice allegory of how we should share wealth among poor folks. No one person should possess such a "ticket to ride." And, by the way, I am annoyed by the previous reviewer who is trying to compare a Hallmark produced film to Rene Clair's 1931 film "Le Million." Of course, the lottery tale is a cliché, it's one of the greatest clichés in all of cinema (the Cinderella tale is an equivalent). Yet, this film's Hallmark cliché worked for me (after a day of house cleaning, mind you): a mise-en-scene of old cars, cramped living quarters, and manly construction sites. And, people wanting to find each other through/in isolation. Too bad there's not a ticket for all of us.

moonspinner55 Elizabeth Berkley is once again the freshest thing in an otherwise stale movie, this one made-for-TV. Sorry yuletide concoction attempts to equate car theft, a lottery win, ice hockey and last-chance boy-girl romance with the holiday spirit. Financially-strapped single mom (whose husband disappeared somewhat mysteriously before the story begins) has her car stolen with a special "Christmas lottery ticket" in the glove compartment. Of course the ticket is a winner--worth an underachieving one million dollars--and of course the guy involved in the car-nabbing is a handsome bachelor with a soft spot for struggling moms and their offspring. Berkley actually manages to make her scenes tender and believable, however the rest of this Hallmark Channel presentation is rather bedraggled.