The Christmas Blessing is one of those CBS ones that now airs regularly on Lifetime. I'm not sure if I had seen it but it's sort of a sequel to The Christmas Shoes, which I watched and reviewed in 2007. The young boy in The Christmas Shoes is now all grown up and the main character, played by Neil Patrick Harris, of The Christmas Blessing. Neil's character has become a doctor but when he loses a patient he heads back to his hometown to reconsider his career and reconnect with his father. While Neil's character reminisces about his deceased mother all the time, his father is having difficulty moving on and is trying desperately not to wallow in his grief all the time - a task that is made difficult when Neil shows up. Neil volunteers at a playground and meets a sick motherless kid, which reminds him of himself. He also meets a teacher, played by Rebecca Gayheart, who also ends up sick. What cheeriness!
Despite the depressing subject matter and overlooking some major story holes (At least 20 years has passed since the events in The Christmas Shoes but these characters carry on as if it happened yesterday - or 3 years ago. Another glaring problem is that Rob Lowe looks EXACTLY the same despite the time passed - they didn't even try to age him.), this is pretty good. It's well-acted, touching and emotional. It definitely ranks as one of the better ones I watched this year, although truth be told this was a bad crop.
Rating: A-
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