“A Christmas Wish” is a very good holiday telefilm and being an older Lifetime holiday telefilm, I was surprised of how different it was compared to today’s holiday telefilms.
Click here to watch “A Christmas Wish” on Amazon
TITLE: A Christmas Wish
FILM YEAR: 2007
DURATION: 88 Minutes
ORIGINALLY AIRED ON: Lifetime
Directed by Bert Kish
Written by Gayl Decoursey
Produced by Michael Hagemeyer, Juliette Hagopian
Executive Producer: Thomas Becker, Stanley M. Brooks, John Fasano, Jorg Westerkamp
Co-Executive Producer: Scott W. Anderson, Damian Ganczewski
Music by Christopher Ward
Cinematography by Paul Suderman
Edited by Saul Pincus
Casting by Felicia Fasano, Jim Heber
Production Design by Gordon Wilding
Art Direction: Gordon Wilding
Costume Design: Patricia J. Henderson
Starring:
Nicole Eggert as Paula Ferguson
Patricia Mayen-Salazar as Martina
Bret Anthony as Gary
Brett Le Bourveau as Nick
Stefanie von Pfetten as Sheila
Kristina Barr as Janine
Ernesto Griffith as Reg Reeves
Kristen Harris as Caroline
Craig Haas as Armando
When Paula chose Gary over Nick, to take her to the senior prom, little did she know that 15 years later she’d be married, have two daughters and tons of debt. When Nick reappears, now a rich, successful art broker, Paula wishes her decision were different. Will there be a Merry Christmas?
I was going through holiday films to watch for day 35, I found an older holiday telefilm and it stars “Charles in Charge” and “Baywatch” actress Nicole Eggert.
I grew up watching Nicole, and figured I had to check it out!
What’s interesting is that when the film was first released, it went by the name “Holiday Switch” and had a cover that was more modern and cool looking, versus the “A Christmas Wish” image that they are using now that makes it look like a horror film. Probably not the best photo of Nicole Eggert to use for the new film image but if anything, as I was doing my research, I started to realize that she was featured in two holiday films, this one in 2007 and “A Christmas Proposal” in 2008.
While I am not sure why they change the name of these holiday telefilms, the storyline borrows heavily on the what happens if you had a different live than you are currently living in? Would you be happier?
The film is directed by Bert Kish and written by Gayl Decoursey and stars Eggert alongside, Patricia Mayen-Salazar, Bret Anthony, Brett Le Bourveau, Stefanie von Pfetten, Sofia Kingma and Maya Ritter.
The film revolves around Paula Ferguson (portrayed by Nicole Eggert) and her family, including husband Gary (portrayed by Bret Anthony) and daughters Eleanor (portrayed by Maya Ritter) and Olivia (portrayed by Sofia Klingma).
The Ferguson family are barely surviving financially, surviving on credit cards to pay the bills which are now maxed out.
She is so stressed out because Christmas is coming and they have no money to buy gifts, buy a Christmas tree, things are just financially bad, despite Gary’s optimism that he will try to get a job and they’ll be fine.
But she can’t help but think about how she was a talented painter but stop pursuing that since she became a mother.
One day while out looking at what she would buy for kids if she had money, she sees an Nick Kensington (portrayed by Brett Le Bourveau) and his girlfriend Sheila (portrayed by Stefanie von Pfetten).
Nick was the owner of a successful art gallery and she’s always kept clippings of his success and has liked him.
Trying to hide from Nick, she goes to a clothing store but she and Nick see each other and he invites her to his Christmas party.
At the party, she sees the elegant and busy life that he lives. He has wealth, prestige and has a successful art gallery.
One day, back at home, she hears noises of someone calling out to her. The noise is coming from the laundry machine and when she goes to check, she accidentally bumps her head quite hard and knocks herself out.
When she awakens, she is a wealthy woman and is married to Nick Kensington. They have no children and she just loves the good life.
But with a wealthy lifestyle, would that switch in life as Paula Kensington be much better or worse than her life as Paula Ferguson?
For the most part, I really enjoyed this holiday telefilm. Not sure if Lifetime put more of a budget back then on holiday telefilms but this one seems more of a bigger budget production-wise.
Nevertheless, I liked how the film shows that life is not always greener on the other side. For Paula Ferguson, she has a loving husband and loving children, she just doesn’t like to be poor. But when she lived her life as a wealthy wife, married to a successful art dealer, she starts to realize that her life was not what she expected and wants to go back to her old life? But can she?
But “A Christmas Wish” is a very good holiday telefilm and being an older Lifetime holiday telefilm, I was surprised of how different it was compared to today’s holiday telefilms.
