Christmas Cottage (2008 Telefilm/Lionsgate DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

Michael Campus (Z.P.G., The Education Of Sonny Carson) has made important films that have been influential and underrated before, so I can see why he took on Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage (2008) and was able to attract top actors like Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden.  Here, she plays a mother in trouble with her mortgage and has a son (Jared Padalecki, who proves he does have something to offer outside of the overrated TV series Supernatural) who wants to help her.

 

This begins with him accepting a job to paint a mural and getting involved in everyone all around, even though he and his brother were not exactly anti-social.  This has an interesting story to tell and is “inspired by a true story” but I wish it had stuck more to the reality of the story instead of getting too “Christmassee” and sappy to the point that it falls apart every time it starts getting interesting.  Still, with a supporting cast that includes Ed Asner, Geoffrey Lewis, Charlotte Rae and Chris Elliot, it is at least ambitious.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is soft and detail-challenged, with some dull color despite being a holiday telefilm, but there are some nice shots here and there.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not much different from the Dolby 2.0 and just never takes off, but Scrooged it is not.  Extras include deleted scenes with optional commentary, feature length audio commentary by Campus & Kinkade that is not bad, on the set with Kinkade and an interview with Kinkade.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo