It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Awkward, odd, strained, maybe even inappropriate.Jason Robards is a widow who doesn't want to travel to see his son's family, but still doesn't want to be alone for Christmas. So what does he do? In effect, he asks a strange man at a strange "relationship" agency to set him up with the equivalent of an escort, but one his own age. Hanky Panky? Oh, no, he says, "two separate rooms".Whether you like this movie will be strictly a matter of taste. I found it slow, and yes awkward. The situation was so strange, I just couldn't relax with it, and I think that's what you would need to enjoy it.The acting was fine. The plot was, well as I said, strange. It wasn't helped by the fact that it is a short story adapted to a TV movie and as a result, there isn't a lot of substance to the plot. Most of what you get out of it is between the lines.

My Summary is the best I could do without giving the ending away, but the ending spoils this movie completely as far as my wife and I were concerned.On the face of it this movie starts off very nicely, with an elderly well off older man wanting to find female companionship for Christmas, with no ties.You will go into this film waiting for the usual romantic ending, so you will be disappointed.I'm not giving away the ending, so watch this film at your leisure, but be ready for the ending, it's changes the entire movie's concept, for want of a better word.Don't get me wrong, the verbal exchanges, the nervousness, the maturity between the two are very evident, are played well.But the ending ruins what could have been a mature romantic story.I don't know how to end this review, so ill leave it there.

When I first heard of this movie, I jumped at the chance to see it. After all, Jason Robards starred in this film AND he also starred in one of the best forgotten made for TV Christmas movies (THE HOUSE WITHOUT A Christmas TREE). So, I naturally assumed it would be excellent. Well, I was half right. Jason Robards was a wonderful and incredibly talented actor, so I did appreciate him in the film. BUT, the story itself was dreadful and so depressing. It seems that Robards' character is old and lonely so he pays an older woman to pretend she is his wife and they spend a VERY depressing and awful Christmas together. I really don't think there was much point to the movie other than this. This is the sort of holiday film that could make a Scrooge out of most viewers.

Jason Robards is John, a widower of only 10 months who doesn't want to spend Christmas alone. He gets a call from his grown son Jim, who tells him that his family isn't going to bother flying up to spend Christmas with him at his cabin in the woods. However, they would like for John to fly down and spend the holiday season with them.I dunno. It sounds reasonable to me. Jim doesn't want to pay for four plane tickets to spend Christmas moping around a cabin thinking about his deceased mom.John, however, decides that he doesn't want to see his son and grandchildren for Christmas. He thinks it's a better idea to go to an agency which organizes "social encounters" between people. (Chuckle...chuckle) Well, anyways...he pays $500 to have a somber woman named Iris (Julie Harris) go with him to his cabin for Christmas.The acting from both Robards and Harris is professional, as you might expect. I just could never fully enjoy this movie because it all seemed so strange and inappropriate. There is only one touching moment in the film (which I won't spoil). The awkward secret which Iris has been hiding during her cabin adventure only makes the film all the more disappointing. 3/10