Rebounding from her first foray into seasonal TV-movie fare (the forgettable "Smoky Mountain Christmas" from 1986), Dolly Parton tries again with this holiday-themed, sentimental confection...and does a very commendable job. A down-on-her-luck singer named Ruby Diamond (!) gets herself into a fatal car wreck and is later turned away from Heaven by St. Peter until she earns her wings on Earth by bringing a dysfunctional family together (under the guise of a cleavage-baring nanny). The brood consists of a widower father (the eternally-constipated Brian Kerwin), his snotty teenage daughter and alienated young son (who joins Dolly in a piano-and-guitar duet on "Jingle Bells"!). Dolly doesn't have to work hard at this role--the writers have already supplied Ruby with an angelic disposition that is hard to humbug, a background in country music, and childhood memories that just reek of smoky mountain holidays in Tennessee. Director Michael Switzer keeps Dolly feisty and funny throughout, and her rapport with saint Roddy McDowall is sweet, but the movie isn't very enticing on an emotional level. The kids merit little interest, the relationships between the adults is occasionally unclear, and small details such as where Dolly hangs up her fabulous wardrobe remain sketchy at best.
Review of Unlikely Angel
