- A successful CEO meets a Latin American rep on Christmas Eve, thus neglecting his girlfriend, family, and employees, and the day magically repeats itself until he gets it right.
- Successful business executive Calvin Carter has it all, but neglects those closest to him. On Christmas Eve, all that changes when the sign on his office building falls on him. He awakens in a hospital bed, attended to by Angie, a nurse who informs him that he has 12 days (12 chances) to get his act together and achieve the "perfect" Christmas Eve. If he doesn't, there will be dire consequences.—DragonEyez
- Cutthroat business executive Calvin Carter is a workaholic. After taking over the reins of the family business, The Buck $top$ Here, from his father, Calvin is able to turn it around from being in the red to becoming the number-two chain of discount stores in the country within a year. In wanting to be the first American company to expand into the Latin American market, he spends Christmas Eve meeting with Isobel Frias, who is evaluating proposals of willing American players to possibly partner with that Latin American venture. On Calvin's urging, Ms. Frias has rerouted her flights for this meeting before returning home to Brazil this evening despite she missing Christmas with her family in taking this meeting. Calvin expects his head office staff to do whatever it takes to impress Ms. Frias, at the expense of what they may have planned with their family this day. Calvin himself could miss a luncheon with his current live-in girlfriend Rhianna, who made the reservation at an exclusive restaurant months in advance. He might also miss the Christmas choir concert of his adolescent son Eric Carter, whom he rarely sees; he lives with his mother, Calvin's ex-wife Marilyn Carter. And Calvin has no intention of visiting the flagship store partly managed by his younger brother Jesse Carter, where their father Hank Carter, despite his aged years and failing memory, still enthusiastically and whole-heartedly plays Santa on Christmas Eve. Having missed all his family commitments, including the traditional extended Carter family Christmas Eve evening party at Jesse's, Calvin still believes he had almost the perfect day, the only snag being that Ms. Frias did not sign on the dotted line, although all indications are that she will. Suffering what he believes is a severe bump on the head at the evening's end, Calvin awakens the next morning with déjà vu and eventually realizes that he is experiencing the same Christmas Eve over again--and relishes the chance not to make it almost perfect, but to make it perfectly perfect by taking advantage of what went wrong in his mind the first time around to get Ms. Frias definitely choosing his company for the venture. However, Calvin eventually discovers from Angie, the "nurse" who cares for him at the end of each of these Christmas Eves, that he will have 12 Christmas Eves to get the day right, and he'll know it wasn't right by the fact of suffering a violent death at its end, each successive night being more violent than the previous night. If he does not figure it out, he will just not wake up on Day 13. Calvin's problem may be the divide between what he considers getting the day right into actually what it means to get the day right in the true spirit of Christmas.—Huggo
- Calvin Carter is pleased: he probably landed a Latin American joint venture for the retail chain The Buck $top$ Here, which he saved from bankruptcy when his dad's mind went. Never mind that he thus missed all family fun on Christmas Eve. Walking home after a drink with his loyal right hand Drew, he has a fatal accident. In the hereafter he learns that the day will start over up to 12 times until he 'does it perfectly', not what is 'perfect'. After treating this as a chance to improve business-wise, Calvin realizes it's probably a humane thing, but every attempt to be more generous fails to stop the next freak fatal accident.—KGF Vissers
- It is Christmas Eve. Cutthroat business executive Calvin Carter (Steven Weber) is a workaholic. After taking over the reins of the family business, The Buck $top$ Here, from his father, Calvin turns the business around from being in the red to becoming the number two chain of discount stores in the country within a year. In wanting to be the first American company to expand into the Latin American market, he is meeting today with Isobel Frias (Patricia Velasquez), who is evaluating proposals of the willing American players with who possibly to partner in that Latin American venture Calvin Carter awakes in his high-tech apartment and gets ready for work. His girlfriend Rhianna (Stefanie von Pfetten) reminds him has a reservation for lunch for them that she has waited two months to obtain. Ex-wife Marilyn (Teryl Rothery) calls Calvin while, he is on way to the office, reminding him his song Eric (Kade Phillips) is singing in a concert at 2:30. All this seems trivial to Calvin who is off to close the biggest deal of his life. Drew Quinn (Vincent Gale), Calvin's executive assistant leaves his wife Tara (Kate Ryan) and their kids to see Santa so he can join Calvin for presentation to Latin America Commerce Commission. On Calvin's urging, Ms. Frias has rerouted her flights for this meeting before returning home to Brazil this evening despite that she is missing Christmas with her family in taking this meeting. Calvin expects his head office staff to do whatever it takes to impress Ms. Frias, at the expense of what they may have planned with their family this day. Isobel Flores arrives early at Calvin's office and she is stunning. Grandpa Hank Carter (Anthony Holland) wakes up in his sons Jesse's (Chad Willett) home excited that he will be playing Santa and handing out candy canes at the flagship store, a tradition on Christmas Eve. Isobel does not want to hear a formal presentation but wants to visit the stores and get a feel for the kind of business that Calvin runs. Drew and Calvin take Isobel to flagship store where elderly Hank is handing out to candy canes, but Calvin ignores family. Drew calls Rhianna requesting to use her lunch reservation for Calvin's business lunch. Calvin also misses Eric's concert. Marilyn drop's Calvin's present on Calvin's office chair. That night Marilyn brings Eric to Jesse's family party, but Calvin is nowhere in sight. At the end of the day, Calvin believes he has sold his business for expansion in Latin America. He insists Drew join him for a drink even though Drew would prefer to be with his family but has missed dinner. Calvin opens the gift of a hand painted necktie Eric got him for Christmas. As he leaves the store, Calvin believes he has nearly had the perfect Christmas Eve when the giant hand that is part of his store logo falls on Calvin. Calvin awakens in a hospital bed with only Nurse Angie (Molly Shannon) on duty. She tells Calvin his problems are internal, and he may or may not make it. Calvin claims he had the best Christmas Eve of his life. The only thing not making it perfect was that Ms. Frias did not sign on the dotted line, although all indications are that she will. Nurse Angie is not convinced. Calvin closes his eyes to rest. Calvin awakens in apartment and it is Christmas Eve again. Suffering what he believes is a severe bump on the head at the end of the evening, Calvin wakes up the next morning with what seems to be déjà vu. Calvin tells Rhianna he has lived this day before. She tells him to make it perfect. On the way to work, Calvin avoids the call from his ex-wife and anticipates Drew's and Isabel's commentary throughout the day. In anticipation of their questions, Calvin is able to make the day more efficient and is able to attend his sons Christmas concert that afternoon. At the end of the day, Isabel offers that, off the record, they will soon be doing business together. Calvin declares he had a perfect day but as he leaves the office, instead of getting hit by the giant hand, he is struck by a snowplow truck. Calvin again wakes up in the hospital bed thinking he had a dream, but the nurse knows he was struck by the snowplow. Calvin again awakens on Christmas Eve. He theorizes this repetition of Christmas Eve is some kind of test. He tries to approach the day with a new strategy: wait, watch, listen and learn. Calvin spends much of the day listening to Isobel and reflecting. When questioned by Drew, at the end of the day about their proposal, Isabel says she is considering several that are on her desk. Calvin believes he is like Sisyphus pushing a rock up the hill that rolls to the bottom each time. This time, the elevator he takes down to street level fails, and he awakens in the hospital bed. Angie tells him what he is experiencing is not a punishment. Calvin is finally able to deduce that he has not lived his best Christmas Eve ever as he thought. Angie state he only has twelve attempts and has used three already to make it to Christmas. The next day Calvin goes to the bank in withdraws $1.2 million and calls the television stations to promote his distributing $100 bills to random people throughout the day. At the Christmas party that night where Jesse is hitting on his Calvin's ex-wife Marilyn, Eric sees the TV report on the news. Isobel said she never had spent a day like such as that. That evening Calvin takes the stairs to avoid the elevator but outside is bowled over by a runaway garbage can. When Calvin wakes up in now too familiar hospital bed, he learns that success means he will wake up on Christmas Day morning. Failure means he will not wake up at all. On Calvin's next attempt at the perfect Christmas Eve, he closes the stores and gives all their employees a paid holiday. Calvin does not realize his father, Hank Carter, who, despite his aged years and failing memory, still plays Santa on Christmas Eve and still loves doing it. Hank's Christmas Eve is ruined. Calvin wakes up in the hospital after being swallowed by a manhole. Calvin theorizes he is giving to the wrong people. The next day, Calvin orders new furniture for every room in Jesse's house. A huge new boat is delivered to Eric, but Calvin's ex-wife demands it be sent back. When she calls Calvin, Calvin complains about the child support and the divorce settlement. Calvin does not make it through the day, as he is consumed in a restaurant omelet pan flare up. On his next attempt at Christmas Eve, Calvin takes over the candy canes distribution from his elderly father. After his son's concert, he takes Eric along with Isobel to explore the city. When Eric gets home, he still feels like he is not a priority to his father. He drops Eric off and rather than attend Jesse's party, Calvin takes Isobel to the airport. Back in his jacuzzi just a couple minutes before midnight just as he is congratulating himself, a chandelier falls into the tub. Nurse Angie reminds Calvin of his mother's death and how he missed her last hours with business concerns. Calvin takes more of a family approach on the next Christmas Eve. He and Isobel take over Jesse and Tara's party bringing in chefs and waiters dressed as Santa's elves. Jesse is furious and says Calvin does not understand what his party is about. He tosses Calvin out of his house. Back at the hospital, Calvin is completely fed up. He claims he has done everything for everyone else. He resolves that everything is going to be all about Calvin. Calvin starts the day by buying three high priced cars. He has lunch with Rhianna and spends the afternoon in bed with her. Then the couple go to parachute out of an airplane. Calvin's chute does not open. Angie is quick to point out that they had nothing to do with Calvin's parachute. Frustrated with the situation, Calvin walks out of the hospital room into a cold dark windy void. He finally sees a light on the other side but discovers a maze of empty hospital beds. Angie violates the rules and pulls Calvin back into safety. Calvin says as he was falling from the sky, he realized that he never told Rhianna how he feels about her. Calvin also learns that he is the last patient in the hospital. Everyone else has made it to Christmas. The next Christmas Eve, Calvin makes Rhianna breakfast in bed and proposes marriage, though without flower and a ring. Rhianna replies that she has seen how he lives and how he is as a father and does not want to marry Calvin. Completely depressed, Calvin spends the say in bed, misses Isobel and Eric's concert. Just as he is about to jump off the building, Calvin finds himself back in his hospital bed. Angie is upset he tried to jump. She said that death is not his decision to make and his problem is that he tries to control everything. The next day Calvin does not report to the office but has emails Drew Quinn a detailed agenda of what to do with Isobel for the day. Calvin goes to work in a soup kitchen serving turkey stew. The father same helping here is good karma. When Calvin checks in with Drew after Isobel leaves, he finds Drew upset he missed the day with his family and Isobel unhappy because she wanted to spend the day with Calvin himself. Calvin goes stands under the hand to allow it to crash up him. At the hospital, Angie slaps Calvin who is down to his last Christmas Eve trying to get him to see that he is more than just a checkbook to the people he loves. Calvin's problem may be the divide between what he considers getting the day right as to what it means to get the day right in the true spirit of Christmas. On his final chance at Christmas Eve, Calvin awakens, kisses his girlfriend Rhianna and asks if they are still on for lunch. He tips the doorman, and he recalls the doorman's name correctly. He dismisses Drew for the day to be with his family and rebooks Isobel's flight so she can be with her family at Christmas rather than deal with business matters. At lunch, Calvin tells Rhianna that he acknowledges they do not have a future. She appreciates his honesty. After the concert, Calvin takes Eric ice skating and tells him he loves him. Then Calvin goes to Jesse's party, thanks him for taking care of their dad and tells him he envies Jesse for his ability to be himself. Marilyn makes Calvin's mom's lemon snow bars. Marilyn is please with Calvin spending time with his son and encourages him to make Eric a priority. Calvin wishes that had, thinking it was too late. He feels choked up when Eric brings Calvin his gift of the hand painted tie. Calvin steps outside and is soon joined by his father. Calvin apologizes for not being there when his mother passed. Hank is conciliatory and forgives him for his faults, telling him he has good at heart. Calvin collapses on the porch and wakes up in the hospital. When Calvin awakens, the males nurse said he had heart burn and should lay off the eggnog and wishes Calvin a Merry Christmas. Calvin realizes he has made it to Christmas day. Calvin is greeted by his family in the waiting room but sees Angie's going down the hall. Calvin follows Angie. When they meet, she is happy for Calvin. She states that the best Christmas Eve ever is not a destination but a journey, and that God is in the details. At home, Calvin is greeted by Eric. Calvin's phone rings. Calvin does not take the call but Isobela leaves a message thanking Calvin for reminding her what is important and welcoming him to do business in Latin America. Calvin enjoys a snowball fight with his family.
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By what name was The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2004) officially released in Canada in English?
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