The Christmas Clause

More parallel lives. Veteran actress Lea Thompson stars as lawyer juggling work with three kids and a husband, who after a meltdown and a wish to a mall Santa, wakes up to a new life in which she's single and super successful. No surprise, she's also a bitch who's alienated all her friends and family, and almost immediately is trying to get her old life back. This is the same alternate reality play that's been done countless times, and this time there's not much wit or whimsy comparable to Christmas Cheddar. For something that presumes to be lighthearted, Thompson spends much of the movie crying, whining about getting back to her husband and kids. In and odd subplot, the Santa who grants her wish and guides her in her attepmts to reverse it ("return policy," he calls it) is implied to be a wiseguy who died in some kind of mob sting and is trying to fulfill a good deed to get into heaven. I'm sure many organized crime figures would be glad to know that wrongdoings can be reversed in the afterlife by snapping your fingers and listening to people whine about getting their old lives back for a couple of hours. How's that for giving? Except for his Santa costume, which he's only wearing the first time we see him, the date on the calendar and the presence of an occasional Christmas Tree, there's nothing seasonal about it. Nausea factor high. Christmas factor low. Not MSG approved.