User Reviews

The Christmas movie watching continues. Just finished "Home By Christmas" which stars Linda Hamilton. In this film Linda plays Julie Bedford (Surely Named After the town Bedford Falls from"It's a Wonderful Life). In this film in a short order a woman finds out that her husbands is cheating. She dumps him and after a series of misfortunes she ends up homeless. She is now one of the invisible people that all of us avoid when we see them on the street. Not letting her situation drag her down too much she hatches a plan to get herself back on her feet. Now what I liked about this film is that you (The Audience) see that you must count your blessings. Be grateful for what you have and not what you don't.

If you like Christmas movies the film is worth seeking out. I will say the surprise of this film was an actor I never herd of before. His name is Rob Stewart and he is very charming.

Made for Lifetime Television it most likely will repeat in November and December. It is also available on DVD at Amazon. It is part of a DVD package of 12 movies of Christmas.

But honestly ? was Linda Hamilton ONLY 50 when she made this film ? and would the good looking doctor really have fallen for someone who looked old enough to be his Mum. Sorry if that's unkind, but clearly the years haven't been kind, and her acting left a lot to be desired.

The story was a good one, and shows how easy it is to be down on your uppers very quickly.

Home by Christmas starts out fairly predictable and depressing, with Linda Hamilton's character being cheated on by her husband and then going through a series of (certainly plausible) extremely hard and devastating times. But, as the movie progresses, there is a lot of laughter, lessons and a really nice and touching story that makes this movie thoroughly enjoyable. You really want to cheer the title character on and see if she can pull herself out of the situations that have befallen her. She makes some wonderful friends and the cast is very enjoyable to watch, as are the majority of the scenes with their interaction. The title, 'Home By Christmas', alludes to the fact that the mom is, once again, trying to provide a stable environment for her daughter to live in by the time she comes home for C-mas from a trip.

The comments above do a good job of explaining what this movie is about, so I want to focus on another aspect of this film.

This movie is about the type of situation most are terrified of even thinking of --facing an economic landslide out of our usual socio-economic level and being completely alone. This is one of the loneliest of personal disasters since others from our old life don't want to talk to us since they are so terrified of this happening to them that they don't want anything to even remind them of it. Watching this is a chance for us to even imagine what it's actually like to live our worst nightmare and know that we would survive. I'm pleased the network aired this film since I think it is a very useful self-empowerment tool.

I never pay too much attention to television films, especially when they intend to show for a certain audience, such as the way Lifetime Network targets their films for housewives and little girls. The "however", however, comes with the star of "Home By Christmas", Linda Hamilton. I could watch anything this elegant lady does, and thus so, I took a chance on this film.

"Home By Christmas" is a quite depressing story of a woman, whom divorces her cheating husband, only to meet even more humiliation by loosing her home in the post-mordam madness, and living in her car. Despite this, she keeps her hopes up, and clings to every opportunity she can, in attempt to build a plan for getting her life back. Her desperation accelerates when her young daughter is returning home for X-Mas, and she needs a quick way to hide the disastrous situation that has befallen her. Not only that, but she has fallen in love, and cannot bring herself to admit her situation to the man she is interested in. Still, she manages to prevail in all her hope and glory, and just as the yuletide season is coming to it's heights.

The story of this is actually depressing, and very sad to think about, but there is humor therein. Linda Hamilton is serious about this role, but she plays it out very well. The hope and humorous ambitions of her character are well represented, and we find ourselves smiling throughout the film, despite the lousy conflicts our leading actress is faced with. The fact is, we are given hope with every scene, as the writing is pretty sharp (a rarity for television films). it's no wonder why Hamilton choose this role. There is something to learn from the film, about giving and receiving. It's quite touching, and in the end, we see the miraculous life lessons of what good comes from hope and faith, and the power of the yuletide season.

9/10

Typical "Lifetime" movie; but ya know, a really feel good experience. Sweet performances, especially by Linda Hamilton as a down on her luck divorcée who becomes homeless, make the movie special. Sometimes on the brink of believability, these performances and the director's occasional fast pace put the plot beyond, towards a story that can easily be enjoyed. There are even moments when tears well into ones eyes without the realization that the heart begins to glow with the holiday spirit. Brenda Crichlow's overly optimistic performance is also surprisingly good. Beware that there are some even many predictable moments. However, they are handled so well by the seasoned Ms. Hamilton, Rob Stewart and the actor who plays Max (his father) that an audience can still receive a blip of unexpected plot. In one word this holiday season? Lovely.

If I could review this movie lower i would, I made this account just to say how awful this was. I have friends in film school, I have watched their first actual projects and smiled and nodded to be encouraging, at least that was from an emotional place of support because I could see their talent coming through for the first time on or behind the camera. This movie was worse than those by far, if an indie movie for film school is a 5 this movie is a negative one go watch anything else!

Character development, acting, and plot just not believable. Even two stars seem generous.

I managed to see this film at the fourth attempt after being constantly interrupted with family matters but I am glad I got to watch it. The story is not new but what is somewhat unusual is that the Linda Hamilton character chose not to take her husband to the cleaners after finding out that he cheated on her. What happened is that through a series of believable disasters she finds herself alone (her daughter goes to live with her father) and she loses her home. I agree with a previous commentator, I think this is one of Linda Hamilton's best performances and my only gripe about this film is that it does not appear to be on DVD as I desperately want to add it to my collection. This is a moving but easy watching film and well worth taking the time to watch if you come across it on your TV listings.

This movie is your typical bad times during the holidays and everything magically works out just fine! Not my cup of tea but might be good for others....

The part I cannot get over is Linda Hamiltons acting (if you want to call it that). Her performance is like that of a first timer. Really shocking that her level of acting skill is so low.

The other thing is that her character is written like this completely inept female. Doesn't know anything going on in her world..no skills...and she just rolls over and takes all these "lashings" that life has to deal her. Her "woah is me" character just makes you want to scream.

I watched this twice to make sure....yep. Its that awful!

If you start to watch this movie and think about axing it within the first 15 minutes (like I did)... please give this movie a chance to redeem itself. Trust me, it does. By the last quarter of the movie, I was loving it. The first third of the movie is almost unbearable, acting mostly but even script writing is almost absurd... but if you bear through it to get to the the second-act, you start to really relate to the heroine of the movie and feel her pain. Even what's happened to her up to that point seem almost believable, despite the first act. Even in desperate times during life, wonderful people seem to appear out of the woodwork, as in this movie and it really makes you believe in something wonderful, especially at Christmas time. I really ended up enjoying this movie, even though I almost gave-up on it early on. In the end I loved it.

If you love Christmas movies like I do, this is one of the best. It's a feel good movie with an interesting story. Linda Hamilton plays Julie, whose husband leaves her for a younger woman. Over time she looses everything and is forced to live in her car. Her daughter goes overseas for extended schooling but makes the decision to come home for Christmas. Now Julie scrabbles to find a place for both of them to spend the Holidays together. Julie makes new friends and slowly gets back on her feet. Her friend Max is a great character and they hep each other out. Julie's new relationship with Selma, a woman who has been in the same homeless situation, proves to be her lifesaver. It's a riches-to-rags-to-riches story, one of my favorites concepts especially during the holidays.

Love Linda Hamilton, but Communal Communism, what the heck is that?? Lousy, miserable Hollywood idiots trying to shove their propaganda down our throats. These people are horrible: Limousine Liberals are turning into socialists. Disgusting people, they are. Well, the way I look at it is they work for me; they are here to entertain me. That's all they're good for, nothing more. They're my "Entertainment Bitches" while I'm in the "real world" performing a productive job, unlike them. They are just entertainment fodder, without much meaning to their lives. I almost feel sorry for them...almost. The show was OK. Linda has done better things.

I enjoyed this film. I have been homeless and this shows a small way of what it feels like, without a lot of drama. The romance isn't amazing, but I enjoyed the storyline. If you enjoy something thoughtful, but happy, this is the movie for you.

So this was your typical Lifetime movie helped along by Linda Hamilton, a decent supporting cast and a fairly addictive story. These movies are so easy to get sucked into and this was no exception as the reasons for "Julia's" hardships are certainly plausible enough (cheating husband, followed by divorce, followed by several mishaps that leave her homeless) and then you just have to see how she's going to put her life back together and what man will come along to provide the romance.

I like Linda Hamilton and she does a good job here, at first I found her portrayal of Julia to be freakishly upbeat and bubbly in an overacted way but I've come to the conclusion that was how the character was written as she's consistent (ly gung-ho) throughout. Her relationship with her daughter seemed realistic, the real-estate angle was entertaining and I also enjoyed Canadian actor Rob Stewart as the (said) love interest.

Its a little frightening to see just how quickly someone's stable, affluent life can fall apart and this was certainly intriguing to watch as she struggles to rebuild herself, discovering along the way that what is most valuable in life are not material things. 12/25/14 Langley B.C plays somewhere suburbia (with a bad part) USA

We enjoyed the movie until the very end. It was as if they ran out of time or didn't know how to finish it so it ended with so many loose ends. Other than that it was a good movie.

I can't recommend this. Hamilton does her best with a poor script, direction, and editing.

The Teminator could not dispatch this actor, but this defeated her.

Awesome film that tells a great story of one person's struggles around Christmas. I love this movie and of course having been a fan of Linda Hamilton for over 30 years now she is amazing in this seasonal Christmas feel-good movie. It has great elements of comedy, drama and ofcourse romance which is what we all like to see in a Christmas movie. And if you're a fan of Linda Hamilton like I am, add this movie to your collection. You'll love it!

This is a beautiful movie. If you're having a terrible time, watch and know happy things can still happen. If you're having a great time, watch and appreciate everything you have. Signed, Sealed, Delivered fans will enjoy seeing Zak Santiago and Tammy Gillis again too.

I usually don't watch Lifetime Christmas because of my busy schedule. But when this movie first aired. I loved it . I have been watching this movie during the Christmas season. It's really a sweet movie. And it's very Heartwarming. I recommend watching it 💜💙😊🎄