A Mom for Christmas (1990) Olivia Newton-John, Juliet Sorci, Doug Sheehan, Doris Roberts Movie Review

A Mom for Christmas (1990)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Juliet Sorci and Olivia Newton-John in A Mom for Christmas (1990)

Mom Needs a Miracle

I have a bad habit of snacking when watching movies and unfortunately if I find myself trying to watch a movie which just doesn't grab me I end up snacking more and more which is exactly what happened as I watched "A Mom for Christmas". In fairness "A Mom for Christmas" is most definitely a movie which is made for a younger audience, a Christmas fantasy which is supposed to be a mix of fun and meaning. The trouble is that not only is "A Mom for Christmas" not that much fun but it often borders on the annoying.

Little Jessica Slocum (Juliet Sorci) misses her mum, especially at Christmas when she wanders around Milliman's department store and sees her friends shopping with their mothers. One day she pulls a free gift from the stores wishing well and it says see Philomena (Doris Roberts) for one free wish and so Jessica's wishes that an attractive looking mannequin was her mum. So that is exactly what Philomena gives her using a bit of magic to bring Amy (Olivia Newton-John) the mannequin to life for the two weeks up until Christmas.

I suppose if I had watched "A Mom for Christmas" as a child I would probably have loved it but now I can't help but compare it to other mannequin movies, not just the well known 80s movie "Mannequin" but also the classic "One Touch of Venus" and when compared to either it is weak. All the jokes surrounding the secret world of mannequins coming to life and Amy being naive to the real world border on the uncomfortably corny; a joke about Amy cooking chicken noodles for breakfast because she knows no better doesn't really make you laugh.

Of course there is another side to "A Mom for Christmas" with Jessica missing her mum and Amy being the catalyst for her dad to realise this but again it is so corny that again it is annoying. It probably is still amusing for a young audience maybe even a bit magical such as during a scene featuring a mannequin dressed as Santa but "A Mom for Christmas" is a struggle for anyone over the age of thirteen.

Even the performances are a struggle especially from Olivia Newton-John as Amy because what it calls for is for Olivia playing it dumb and naive but caring which she does but it is all so over the top and corny. Juliet Sorci does a little better as she gets across the whole lonely daughter aspect of the character quite nicely although at times she also ends up a little annoying. Then there is Doris Roberts in the small role of the magical Philomena which for anyone who knows their Christmas movies will make you think of the more recent "Mrs. Miracle" movies.

What this all boils down to is that "A Mom for Christmas" just didn't do it for me and whilst it is a movie for young children it struggled to keep me interested like other Children's Christmas movies manage.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies


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