Eventually Rachel discovers both Lloyd and Pooty harbor secrets, his about a family he destroyed and abandoned, hers concerning a deception that has guaranteed her a life of ease and comfort.

The trio's tranquil existence dissolves the following Christmas, and Rachel and Lloyd find themselves on a cross-country odyssey that takes them through numerous towns named Springfield, dogged by disaster.

Lloyd's kindly facade shatters, and Rachel encounters a number of odd characters, including a less-than-helpful therapist and Tim Timko, the host of a television game show.

The soundtrack includes "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Bing Crosby, "Silent Night" by Jack Jones, "O Little Town of Bethlehem" by Roger Williams, and "Joy to the World" and "Jingle Bells" by Pat Boone.

[1] In his review in The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the film "a surreal comic allegory that suggests Alice in Wonderland fused with Candide into a contemporary antidote to Frank Capra's holiday heartwarmer It's a Wonderful Life .

Reckless sustains the darkly zany atmosphere of a grown-up fairy tale far more successfully than Prelude to a Kiss, the director's earlier screen transposition of a Lucas play.

Audiences conditioned to expect conventional movie naturalism should be warned that Reckless is surreally stylized in its writing and production design and even in some of its acting.

With her peaches-and-cream complexion and slightly whiny voice, Ms. Farrow has always epitomized a precocious, overgrown princess whose garrulity inspires protectiveness tinged with irritation.

"[4] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post observed, "Lucas articulates his themes with artful lucidity, but the movie is so literate, so written, that its emotional impact seems almost incidental to its design and the elegant play of its symmetries.