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Pediatrician by day, single mom by night, Sarah invites her estranged husband, Pete, back to their suburban home for the Holidays on one condition: he must reconcile with their daughters before she agrees to finalize a trial separation with divorce.

Could and should have been a much finer film

An estranged father finds his family at Christmas

very rushed, very confusing ... did I miss something?

Did they just forget to finish writing this?

kept holding out hope it would turn out different

What a pity, this might have been a 7 or 8 star film. The writing and acting handled the story well. Barry Bostwick was particularly good as a Pete, an older man coming to terms with his past mistakes, lost opportunities, mid-life quandaries and so on, but all the cast were believable and sensitive in their roles. The viewer sees the situation from Pete&#39;s viewpoint, but the issues are largely kept in the present and there is a genuine feeling of uncertainty about what will happen, what the characters &quot;ought&quot; to do. Up until the last 15-20 minutes that is. For some reason this film feels like it has been nobbled. All of a sudden the tone changes, and the previous girlfriend disappears without a word (unless I blinked and missed her). There&#39;s some over-the-top sickly sentimental singing and sledgehammer religiosity which to me seemed out of place, and everything is tied up in a neatly traditionally moral way. Personally I did not mind what the ending was, there aren&#39;t always clear rights and wrongs in life, and I like happy (and uncertain or unhappy) endings in films. But in this case the ending did not fit the rest of the film and felt rather false and forced. The film morphed from a fairly interesting, thoughtful piece of work into a moral lesson, although some may prefer that. Not a bad watch on the whole, if you are in the mood, it has some good moments.

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Holiday Baggage

&quot;Holiday Baggage,&quot; also known by the title, &quot;Baggage,&quot; may be a difficult movie for some people to watch. Especially someone who has had a similar family situation with an estranged father. One can understand that such a film may not be highly thought of or enjoyed. Besides that, this film has some choppy editing and seems to be disconnected in places. The screenplay is not particularly strong. And while it has a decent cast, none of the acting is exceptional. The direction seems slow and indecisive in places. With all of that, it is a good story about reconnecting within a family and of a father nearing retirement maturing and realizing what he has been missing. It&#39;s okay for a watch but not a film to seek out or add to a package for holiday viewing.

This was the most confusing Christmas movie I have ever seen... So the neighbor just dies and no one bats an eye? And how can he just leave with the girlfriend then boom, he&#39;s back with the ex wife locking lips. All of which happens in the last 10 min. And why is the mom a minister all of a sudden. If you love ridiculous Christmas movies that are so bad that you have to laugh, this is the film for you!

Hallmark makes some very good holiday movies, most with a strong moral and/or religious undertones ... but this one had me very confused. Granted I came into it about mid-way through, but I see an old guy fooling around with a younger girl ... she shows up in what could be a compromising clutch between him and his &quot;still&quot; wife in his motel room ... basic G-rated Hallmark fashion, the door is open and everything is above board ... she is confused but understanding and allows it. As someone else said &quot;yeah, right, no.&quot; We&#39;re supposed to feel sorry for this guy who is getting a divorce so he can go live in the Bahamas with a girl half his age ... he doles out advice to the people around and supposedly blind that he is not taking it himself. Pacing is confusing and the script rushes toward a typical Hallmark ending, dumping plot points along the way to be discarded. The girlfriend is there, then bows out gracefully, or is sucked up by aliens, you never really know. A church service is thrown in at the end, which really makes no sense ... the daughter just had a traumatic birth delivery and she is all grins and smiles days later at a church service? Highly doubtful. I love Hallmark, but this one was a mess and made no sense. Actors were great but the writing was terrible. We watched it because it was part of the stream of holiday movies on the cable channel, but I would not look it up again in the future.

What happened to the girlfriend? They just jumped from them leaving the girl having a baby to him at the church and his ex-wife taking him back. Very poorly written.

the acting was typical for this type of film... TV low budget, rushed... the delivery was awkward in many scenes. this story was awful. i stopped watching it several times as i just became more angry as it went on, excusing abusive/neglectful behavior. i thought surely it would be redeemed in the end, but i was sadly mistaken. how it could be called a family film is beyond me.

He&#39;s 63 she&#39;s 30. Come on. Is it true love? I&#39;d love to see the prenup especially since he&#39;s a multimillionaire. The true message of Xmas is Get Some! Chicka Bow Wowww

Loved Holiday baggage Cheryl Ladd and Barry Bostwick great supporting cast good

Film was doing ok until it got to the middle. Suddenly characters began to come and go without explanation. How does one go from expecting twins to just having 1 baby with no explanation. Then the main character goes from possibly being in a relationship to suddenly not being in the relationship. The character is taken off to the hospital, and you&#39;re not sure whether the person lived or died because it&#39;s not stated. Then another character, main character, decides to leave, and then unexplainably comes back. And there&#39;s no resentment or even question about the person dropping in and out. They must&#39;ve ran outta money in the middle of shooting. Disappointing.

Barry Bostwick is the maestro of ruin. Prepare for a rollicking tribute of XMAS tragicomedy as you strap into a crazy holiday roller coaster that&#39;s like a mix of TV&#39;s &quot;7th Heaven&quot; and the whimsy of Hollywood&#39;s &quot;Harry Potter&quot;. It&#39;s so great.

This movie sets the golden standard in B-rated acting. Mr. Bostwick performs at such level and captures the audience as he reconciles with his neglected family. The antagonistic role unravels like a ripe fruit on a summer day, delivery sweet fruit for the audience to eat! He becomes the good guy at the end. I love it!

User reviews

Holiday Baggage

Could and should have been a much finer film

An estranged father finds his family at Christmas

What. Just. Happened.

very rushed, very confusing ... did I miss something?

Did they just forget to finish writing this?

kept holding out hope it would turn out different

She's less than half his age

Good movie

So many unanswered questions

Balls to the wall excitement!!!

My favorite "holiday" movie in years?

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