The title I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1997) should be a familiar one.  There is the classic Christmas carol of the same name.  With that, it should also not come as a surprise that there are many films that have borrowed the appellation for their Christmas movie.  Somehow, I think I chose the least popular of all of them.  At the same time, it has a cast that would likely be recognizable to many.  Do you remember the pilot with issues, Ted Striker (Robert Hays), from Airplane! (1980)?  He is in I’ll Be Home for Christmas.  For you historians of Hollywood, today’s entry also has Jack Palance.  For a Catholic reviewer, none of this interested me.  For a moment, I got excited that the fictional Iowa town in which it is set is called St. Nicholas, but there is no religious connection.  And therein is an apt metaphor not only for all Yuletide cinema, but how the world treats the holiday these days.

At the beginning of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, it is Mayor Sarah Gladstone (Ann Jillian) who is being treated.  She is being confronted by the council of the small town because of a few issues.  The main problem is that Doc Jenkins (not pictured) has suddenly passed, and this means their hospital is about to close since he was the only doctor in the area.  Among those attending the meeting is Bob Greiser (Jack Palance).  His son, Dr. Mike Greiser (Robert Hays), is from St. Nicholas and currently working in a large medical facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Mike’s wife (not pictured) died a few years ago, and the residents of St. Nicholas, Bob chief among them, would like nothing better than their favorite son to return home and take Doc Jenkins vacated position.  To that end, Bob invites Mike to come back for Christmas.  As it turns out, this is something that Mike needs.  His co-workers, including Hal (Bernard Behrens), Mike’s boss, notice how much of a toll the loss of Mrs. Greiser is having on Mike.  We later learn that Mike had been the one who had tried to treat his spouse, but his course of medicine could not save her.  In conferring with Hal, Mike agrees to move into administration, but not before the doctor is ordered to take a break.  This happens to coincide with Bob’s invitation.  The one who is not thrilled to be going to Iowa is Jilly Greiser (Ashley Gorrell), Mike’s daughter, who thinks her grandfather is creepy.  Bob lives alone on a farm in the middle-of-nowhere Iowa, so I cannot say I blame her.  In St. Nicholas, word spreads that Mike will soon be arriving, so they turn their annual erection of the town Christmas tree into a welcoming party for the doctor.  They put Mike and Sarah together, which is a little awkward since they had dated in high school and had not seen each other for some time.  Once the bruhaha is concluded, Bob drives his son and granddaughter to his place.  Despite her misgivings, Jilly is enticed by stories about her dad, including how Mike and Sarah had once been an item.  While Mike undertakes an errand for her dad, Bob shows Jilly the new pig in his barn.  However, the young animal does not appear to be doing well, so they call Sarah, who is also the local veterinarian.  Of course, an instant bond forms between Jilly and Sarah, and the daughter comes to the side of the denizens who want to see Mike stay.  Despite her reticence, Sarah agrees to try to woo Mike by taking him out on the town, finding such entertainment as is available.  The fact that they are on what appears to be a date excites the populace, adding to the pressure they put on Sarah to convince Mike to remain in St. Nicholas.  To that end, she manages to bring him to the practically abandoned hospital.  While there, a boy is brought in with a major gash above his eye from playing football.  Mike’s sweating visage while tending the wound betrays his nervousness, but he remains close lipped about how he is feeling.  Instead, he shares a snowed-in night at the hospital with Sarah that has her openly asking in the morning whether he will take the job at the St. Nicholas facility.  He refuses, citing a promotion back in Minneapolis, one he suddenly must return to even though it is not yet Christmas.  She is surprised, but Bob and Jilly are suspicious.  Because of this, Bob volunteers to go with, saying that Jilly needs him.  Upon getting back to work, Mike finds that being an administrator is not what he had hoped it would be.  He is telling his former colleagues how they must treat their patients from a bureaucratic perspective, which is not a fulfilling position to be in to say the least.  Sarah also makes one last attempt to convince Mike to be St. Nicholas’ doctor, and this is when we found out about what had happened with his wife.  Sarah suggest that he is best suited as a doctor, but claims that they will somehow make it work back home.  The next day, Jilly comes to the hospital in a panic, telling Mike that Bob has had a heart attack.  Jilly begs her father to tend to Bob, which Mike eventually agrees to do.  Upon successfully operating on his father, Hal informs Mike that Sarah had revealed that St. Nicholas’ hospital is going to close.  It is the last bit of convincing Mike needs.  Of course, Jilly and Mike get to St. Nicholas on Christmas Eve in time for the tree lighting.  We conclude with the inevitable kiss between Mike and Sarah.

While watching Christmas movies like I’ll Be Home for Christmas, there are a lot of things about them that are inevitable.  Having said that, I got a few predictions wrong.  I feel like I should be better with my cinematic prognostications considering how many of its ilk I have watched of late.  For instance, while it is obvious that Mike is going to be St. Nicholas’ doctor, I did not think he would go back to Minneapolis before turning around and returning.  Doing so seems a waste of a trip, but then again, it is only a movie.  What should not be diminished is how Mike is handling the death of his wife.  He seems to be blaming himself, which is understandable for somebody in the health profession.  In situations of loss, we tend to blame ourselves for playing some role in what happened.  Most of the time, this is not fair, nor is it how God looks at us.  To be sure, there can be times when taking on responsibility for an outcome is warranted.  This is usually the case when it comes to sin.  In any situation, though, it is best to talk about it.  This is Mike’s first mistake.  He does not share his problems with anyone until Sarah comes back into his life.  It takes her, and his other family and friends, pointing out not only his lack of culpability but his skills as a physician for him to realize his worth.  Important people in our lives act in the person of God in such situations.  God’s grace can work in an infinite number of ways.  The birth of Jesus, while essential, is one of many manifestations of God’s love.  Like Mike, we should thank God when those we care about show His mercy in action.

It is kind of silly to use the word “action” in relation to anything that happens in I’ll Be Home for Christmas.  It is a pretty slow-moving film, even though it lasts only an hour and a half.  It is also soap opera-esque, which makes it a bit cheesy.  In short, this one is skippable.