alvin Carter is a high-powered businessman who knows what's really important. He's wealthy from the success of his chain of dollar stores, he has a beautiful girlfriend, and he's got a great son from a previous marriage. All he really wants for Christmas is to close a deal with Isabel Frias (Velasquez), a woman who owns a valuable chain of stores in Latin America.
He wakes up on Christmas Eve Day with nothing on his mind except impressing Ms. Frias enough to make his Christmas wish come true. He tells his girlfriend he'll come to lunch if he can at a restaurant she's had reservations at for months, and he tells his ex-wife (Rothery) he'll try to make it to his son's Christmas concert.
He arrives at the office to find Ms. Frias waiting for him. Her plane is early, and she wants to spend the day visiting his stores with him so she can get to know him better and decide whether he is someone she wants do business with. Calvin is thrilled and happily takes her on a tour of his stores, brushing off his commitments and his family and not giving a thought to his assistant and his secretary's desire to make it home early to spend time with their families.
By the end of the day, Ms. Frias leaves, assuring Calvin that things have gone very well and that he'll be hearing from her. Calvin is thrilled. For him, it's the best Christmas Eve he's ever had. As he leaves his office alone with a bounce in his step, he is crushed to death in an improbable accident.
Calvin wakes up to find himself lying in a hospital bed. He doesn't seem to have any injury, and he feels fine. Strangely, the only person around is a nurse called Angie (Shannon). Calvin falls asleep and wakes up to find it's Christmas Eve Day all over again. As he lives through the day and dies again, he'll come to find out he has 12 redos of Christmas Eve Day in which to live a truly perfect day. If he doesn't, he won't wake up to see Christmas at all.
A Christmas Groundhog Day
It's not a new story by any means. A man has to relive pieces of his life to find out what's truly important. 12 Days of Christmas Eve has been done before and much better in A Christmas Carol (pick your favorite version) and Groundhog Day. That said, if you like somewhat sappy Christmas tales that hold few surprises but still manage to find a touching moment or two, then this two-hour USA Network movie is for you.
From the start of the film, there's no doubt Calvin will figure out what Christmas is all about. Unfortunately, his journey isn't as funny or charming as it could be. It's never quite believable that this smart businessman could be so dim and waste so many of his redo days discovering what the audience already knew at the start of 12 Days of Christmas Eve.
Only Molly Shannon as the nurse Angie brings sparkle and humor to the tale. The former Saturday Night Live player uses her sharp sense of comic timing to liven things up every time she graces the screen, but her short visits can do only so much to help 12 Days. As for Steven Weber, his character and the story don't come to life until the very end. Despite it all, Weber manages to make us care about Calvin in the end, which is no small feat considering the callous nature of the man.
At best, 12 Days is mediocre holiday fare, something that will leave your mind by the time you turn off your TV to go to bed. The production values are fine, the direction is solid, and the acting is serviceable, but it should have and could have been better.
