A Family Thanksgiving
Encyclopedia
A Family Thanksgiving is a 2010 Hallmark Channel Original Movie directed by Neill Fearnley.
) is a very successful attorney who was once graduated at the top from Harvard Law School
. Nowadays, she is working hard to become the first female partner within a high-powered firm. Her life should be perfect, though her personal problems keep stacking. Recently, her sister invited her to deliver the family Thanksgiving
a self-made apple pie
. Claudia, however, is everything but the housewife her sister is, and is frightened by the idea alone.
Meanwhile, Claudia is ordered to make sure that a corporate client will demolish a park to build an enormous development. In order to realize this, she has to order her employees to work on Thanksgiving Day, because the due date, a court battle, is the day after. During this process, Claudia meets Gina (Faye Dunaway
), a mysterious old woman who makes it her goal to teach Claudia some moral lessons. Gina takes her to an alternative world, where Claudia is a low-profile, but happily married woman of two children.
Despite past prejudices on married life, Claudia finds out that she is falling in love with the man whom she is married to. Furthermore, she grows closer to her sister. While experiencing her new life, the way it could have been, she learns that she is missing out on a lot. Just as she is about to settle with her new life, Gina returns to take her back. Claudia is reluctant to return to her corporate life, and thus must consider what she is most thankful for.
discussed the film: "I loved the idea when it came to me. But I worked with the writer (Emily Baer) to make sure the message wasn't that this woman should have had kids and regrets it. Instead, my character is a woman who is hugely successful, about to make partner in her law firm, has all the money she needs, a great wardrobe...and then she gets thrown into a life that shows her what it would be like if she'd made a different choice."
An October 2010 press release from Hallmark Channel
revealed that the film was set to premiere on November 6.
felt the story provided a decent case for personal balance between having a career and a family. Added the critic: "...A perfect message for troubled economic times as well as the reflective aspect of the Thanksgiving season."
The Daily News expressed its disappointment in the film's "formulaic and uninspired" script, and furthermore criticized Zuniga and Dunaway for "hardly trying" to deliver a performance. The critic's discontent with the script was further explained: "Hallmark films are allowed some liberties with coincidence and unlikely events that service the plot, but this one exceeds its quota early. [..] A Family Thanksgiving leaves an uncharacteristically unpleasant aftertaste, because it ends up suggesting not just that Claudia is missing part of life, but that successful working women almost by definition must be misguided and miserable. That may not be the intent, but a lazy script can have inadvertent side effects."
Plot
Claudia (Daphne ZunigaDaphne Zuniga
Daphne Eurydice Zuniga is an American actress known for her roles as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap Melrose Place, as Victoria Davis on The CW teen drama One Tree Hill and as Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.-Early life:...
) is a very successful attorney who was once graduated at the top from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. Nowadays, she is working hard to become the first female partner within a high-powered firm. Her life should be perfect, though her personal problems keep stacking. Recently, her sister invited her to deliver the family Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
a self-made apple pie
Apple pie
An apple pie is a fruit pie in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with whipped cream or ice cream on top...
. Claudia, however, is everything but the housewife her sister is, and is frightened by the idea alone.
Meanwhile, Claudia is ordered to make sure that a corporate client will demolish a park to build an enormous development. In order to realize this, she has to order her employees to work on Thanksgiving Day, because the due date, a court battle, is the day after. During this process, Claudia meets Gina (Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
), a mysterious old woman who makes it her goal to teach Claudia some moral lessons. Gina takes her to an alternative world, where Claudia is a low-profile, but happily married woman of two children.
Despite past prejudices on married life, Claudia finds out that she is falling in love with the man whom she is married to. Furthermore, she grows closer to her sister. While experiencing her new life, the way it could have been, she learns that she is missing out on a lot. Just as she is about to settle with her new life, Gina returns to take her back. Claudia is reluctant to return to her corporate life, and thus must consider what she is most thankful for.
Cast
- Daphne ZunigaDaphne ZunigaDaphne Eurydice Zuniga is an American actress known for her roles as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap Melrose Place, as Victoria Davis on The CW teen drama One Tree Hill and as Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.-Early life:...
as Claudia - Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
as Gina - Gina HoldenGina Holden- Early life :Holden was born in the small town of Smithers, British Columbia, Canada, and moved often while growing up. With every move, Holden would join whatever community group she could so she could follow her passion for acting. At fifteen, she was signed to a modeling contract and moved to...
as Jen - Dan PayneDan PayneDan Payne is a Canadian actor best known for playing the role of John in the television series Alice, I Think.Among his numerous television appearances was in an advertisement for Speakeasy from Esat Digifone, an Irish mobile phone operator now owned by O2.He also played the part of the Kull...
as Bill - Catherine Lough Haggquist as Lindsay
Production
In a press interview, Daphne ZunigaDaphne Zuniga
Daphne Eurydice Zuniga is an American actress known for her roles as Jo Reynolds on the Fox primetime soap Melrose Place, as Victoria Davis on The CW teen drama One Tree Hill and as Princess Vespa in Spaceballs.-Early life:...
discussed the film: "I loved the idea when it came to me. But I worked with the writer (Emily Baer) to make sure the message wasn't that this woman should have had kids and regrets it. Instead, my character is a woman who is hugely successful, about to make partner in her law firm, has all the money she needs, a great wardrobe...and then she gets thrown into a life that shows her what it would be like if she'd made a different choice."
An October 2010 press release from Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
revealed that the film was set to premiere on November 6.
Reception
The entertainment magazine VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
felt the story provided a decent case for personal balance between having a career and a family. Added the critic: "...A perfect message for troubled economic times as well as the reflective aspect of the Thanksgiving season."
The Daily News expressed its disappointment in the film's "formulaic and uninspired" script, and furthermore criticized Zuniga and Dunaway for "hardly trying" to deliver a performance. The critic's discontent with the script was further explained: "Hallmark films are allowed some liberties with coincidence and unlikely events that service the plot, but this one exceeds its quota early. [..] A Family Thanksgiving leaves an uncharacteristically unpleasant aftertaste, because it ends up suggesting not just that Claudia is missing part of life, but that successful working women almost by definition must be misguided and miserable. That may not be the intent, but a lazy script can have inadvertent side effects."