All I Want for Christmas

In this family-friendly holiday film, all Ethan and Hallie want for Christmas is for their parents to get back together. Catherine (Parenthood's Harley Jane Kozak) and Michael (Chicago Hope's Jamey Sheridan) have been divorced for a year and now Catherine's dating a guy no one can stand, including her mother Lillian (Lauren Bacall). Michael, meanwhile, has opened a successful diner, but he misses Catherine. When Hallie (Thora Birch, years before American Beauty) overhears Catherine tell Lillian she and Tony (Kevin Nealon) are planning to marry, she and Ethan (Sweet Home Alabama's Ethan Embry) come up with a plan to strand their parents alone together on Christmas Eve. Hallie even asks Santa (Leslie Nielsen) to help them out. All I Want for Christmas doesn't pack any surprises, but it's suitable for all ages and features lively cameos from Andrea Martin as Lillian's housekeeper and Renée Taylor as Catherine's rodent-fearing wedding planner. --Kathleen C. Fennessy