12 Dates of Christmas is a festive version of Groundhog Day with maybe a bit of A Christmas Carol thrown in.

Amy Smart is reliving her Christmas Eve as she wakes up each time on the floor of a department store. She is selfish, self obsessed and rude. She has not got over her ex boyfriend and wants him back. She does not like her stepmother and when she is fixed up on a blind date she quickly walks out on him within a few minutes to go see her ex.

Each time she reawakens she realises she needs to fix things, become a better person and care for others around her.

This is a lightweight romantic comedy, a bit fluffy but also overlong. I just felt that it run out of plot rather early on but there was still some time left to go.

If you loved Groundhog Day, 12 Dates of Christmas will probably be your new favorite Christmas movie. This ABC television movie is the best Christmas classic since Elf, one you will add to your collection and watch every year.

Amy Smart stars as an unhappy, lonely young woman determined to win her ex-boyfriend back on Christmas Eve. She ignores the advice of her best friend, Laura Miyata, is rude to her kind-hearted neighbor, Jayne Eastwood, and hurts her dad and stepmom's feelings with her flippant remarks about the holidays. On top of it all, she gets set up on a blind date with Mark-Paul Gosselaar but doesn't really give him the time of day because she's still in love with Benjamin Ayres. But, when the clock strikes midnight, time flies backwards and she finds herself reliving Christmas Eve all over again!

Everything about this movie is adorable, and every time you watch it, there's more to notice and appreciate. Director James Hayman adds the clever touch of inserting each of the 12 proverbial gifts of Christmas during her repetition of the day; for example, there are two sets of love birds in a shop window and nine women start up a conga line in a bar. It's great fun to try and catch all twelve! While most films of this type-mean person learns his lesson-focus on one lesson, Aaron Mendelsohn and Janet Brownell's script is more complex than that. Amy Smart's character is given deeper reasons for her unhappiness, rather than a cheesy, generic dislike of the holiday or lack of romance. Each of the supporting characters are given their own quirks and niceties, adding to enjoyment of the story. Plus, there's more than one romance in the film, so even though you're guaranteed to fall for Mark-Paul Gosselaar, you'll find yourself rooting for other couples as well.

From Mary Long's holiday pun-"What happens when Santa gets stuck in the chimney? He gets Santa Claustr-ophobia!"-to Audrey Dwyer's one repeated, memorable line-"I spritzed you and you passed out"-12 Dates of Christmas is full of funny lines and scenes that you'll look forward to reliving every year. I can't recommend this modern Christmas classic highly enough. I just love it!

This ABC family Christmas movie is better than some of the recent Hallmark holiday movies. The writing is sharper and the cast is likable - more A list for TV than usual. The Groundhog Day formula has been used in TV movies sometimes unsuccessfully, but here they got the right elements of Groundhog. Each repeated day is different enough and builds upon the last with sufficient humor and inventiveness. A young lady pining for her ex is set up on a blind date.

Amy Smart has enough vitality without being annoying and she pulls the role off quite well. Mark Paul Gosselaar is a likable enough romantic lead.

If you have to pick one Christmas movie to watch this one is okay.