Line #4 Film/IfYouBelieve


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ifyoubelieve_5.png]]
6	''If You Believe'' is a 1999 MadeForTv [[ChristmasMoviesIndex Christmas movie]] and one of the happier [[LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek Lifetime Movies of the Week]].
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8	Susan Stone is a modern-day Scrooge-like woman. She used to be a spirited child, and an idealistic and enthusiastic young woman, but she is now a weary and cynical book editor who is troubled with self-doubt and has lost passion about everything she loved. She's afraid of losing her job and she has practically given up on happiness.
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10	However, this Christmas, magic comes in the form of a cute 7-year-old girl, invisible to others, who claims she is Susan's inner self. The little Suzie has come to help the adult Susan rediscover her zest for life.
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12	The film stars Ally Walker as Susan Stone and Creator/HaydenPanettiere as Suzie. Tom Weller is portrayed by Creator/TomAmandes. It's a holiday Made For TV Movie and a variation of YetAnotherChristmasCarol.
13	----
14	!! The film provides examples of the following tropes:
15	* AlliterativeName: '''S'''usan '''S'''tone.
16	* AlmostKiss: When Tom accompanies Susan to her room in the inn and they say their good nights, he almost kisses her, but Susan pulls away. Lampshaded by Suzie who is thrilled that he wanted to kiss her.
17	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Bob is Susan's younger brother and he was annoying when they were younger. Shown during one scene in TimeCompressionMontage when they bicker.
18	* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:The last scene of the movie shows Tom and Susan's baby girl Pru. She has the family little red mark, meaning that she will have the seer power as well.]]
19	* BetterAsFriends: Tom is attracted to Susan and would like to be with her. Susan likes him as well, but she is afraid of ruining their friendly professional relationship. In addition, little Suzie thinks she's afraid of commitment and that Tom might treat her like Peter did.
20	* BeYourself: Susan's Dad message: "You is what you is, and you ain't what you ain't."
21	* BigFriendlyDog: Little Suzie loves Tom's huge dog and she cuddles with him a lot.
22	* BrokenBird: Susan. Peter treated her badly and she let him. She's emotionally dead inside and prefers to feel nothing. She acts bitterly towards her nieces and nephews, and she's extremely hard on her assistant.
23	* ChristmasSongs: Christmas songs are all over the film, especially traditional Christmas carols. Characters sing them, Tom plays them on the trombone and their variations are used as the musical score.
24	* CoolTeacher: Bob is a teacher and loves his job. During their Thanksgiving dinner, he talked about his clever student whom he tried to get a scholarship. Susan doesn't approve of his career choice, thinking it's low-paying and dangerous.
25	* DefrostingIceQueen: Susan warms considerably throughout the movie, especially to her assistant Robin and also to her brother and his kids. Luckily, she was never shrewish towards Tom.
26	* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Peter was present only in one scene and he was smoking or chewing a pipe. He definitely felt to be above everybody else.
27	* ElegantClassicalMusician: Tom plays the trombone, mostly Christmas carols. Susan likes it a lot and thinks it's really sexy. Tom uses it to charm Susan when he invites her to see him play Christmas carols with a town orchestra. Susan's younger self Susie says she ''[[LampshadeHanging loves]]'' that he plays the trombone, pointing out that musicians are attractive.
28	* FictionalDocument: Tom's book ''Phooey'', also referred to as "Untitled", exists only in the movie.
29	* GraveMarkingScene: Tom Weller's family have their own small graveyard. He shows Susan his parents' graves.
30	* GratuitousFrench: Bitchy Dorinda uses a French phrase when she criticises Tom's book.
31	* HeldGaze: Between Tom and Susan. It's so painfully obvious that they're into each other, yet they just gaze into each other's eyes.
32	* HappyDance: Susan performs a Happy Dance when she phones Dilly, one of her star writer, and learns that he finally overcame his Writer's Block. That's quite a reason to celebrate, right?
33	* HappyEnding: [[spoiler:Susan reconciles with her brother, once again finds the love for her job, ends up together with Tom.]]
34	* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Peter tried to change Susan and utterly screwed her in the process. For example, he was belittling her in front of her family or telling her that she should stop gushing about her new writers. Then he left her.
35	* IndirectKiss: Tom and Susan eat something very tasty together and share. It's hard to say what they eat precisely, probably something sweet from a local cooking genius.
36	* {{Jerkass}}: Dorinda. She's very unpleasant towards Susan and other characters. She is very pleased with herself when she thrashes Tom's book in a meeting.
37	* LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek: Susan is the aggrieved woman who finds happiness and empowerment. The movie is also filled with Christmas spirit and elements of a RomanticComedy because Susan finds a cute nice man.
38	* LongingLook: Either it's Tom looking lovingly at Susan, or Susan looking lovingly at Tom.
39	* LoveAtFirstSight:
40	** {{Discussed}}. It's how Susan's parents met. She claims she never believed the story, but Tom is positive it happened. He even thinks all love is Love At First Sight, at least one way, because otherwise there couldn't be any second dates.
41	** {{Conversed}}. It appears as a trope in Tom's book and they discuss whether it's well-written and believable.
42	* MadeForTvMovie: TV movie, Christmas style.
43	* MarketBasedTitle: Of late, it's billed on its British TV airings (in listings guides, though not on screen) as ''If You Believe At Christmas''.
44	* MeaningfulName: What can Susan Stone's heart be made of?
45	* MissingMom: Bob's wife died and he takes care of their four children. The children look like they deal with it quite ok. Their dad adores them and wants them to be cheerful and happy.
46	* MotorMouth: Susan's assistant Robin talks and talks and talks. Constantly. Susan calls it run on sentences.
47	* MostWritersAreWriters: Susan is an editor working for a publishing house and Tom is a lawyer who gave up his career to be a writer. Susan ends up editing his first novel.
48	* {{Opera}}: Susan used to love opera, but Peter hated it and made her stop attending. Suzie forces her to finally go. She absolutely enjoys herself seeing ''Theatre/LaTraviata''.
49	* OtherMeAnnoysMe: At first, Susan is scared that she might have a tumour and little Suzie is just a hallucination. When she accepts her presence, she's frustrated with her childlike ideas and advice.
50	* ParentalAbandonment: Susan and Bob's parents both died when Bob and Susan were only very young adults. Susan misses her Dad very much.
51	* TheProudElite: Probably Peter, if his clothes and pipe are anything to go by. He's a stuck-up toff who feels he's above everybody.
52	* PursueTheDreamJob: Tom Weller gave up being a successful lawyer to work on his first novel full time.
53	* RapidFireYes: When Susan learns that Dilly's WritersBlock is slowly over, she jumps and starts dancing. She keeps chanting multiplied and somewhat toned down "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!". She's kind of embarrassed when Tom sees her. He thinks she's cute, though.
54	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Bob to Susan. It was triggered by the fact that Susan told her seven-year-old niece Alice that Santa Clause is a myth. He ends telling her that he doesn't even want her among his children any more because she's bad and toxic influence. She sarcastically apologizes for poisoning them with reality.
55	* RomanceEnsues: Susan goes to stay in Connecticut for a couple of weeks with Tom to work on his novel. They spend most of their time together and with no other company. He charms her with his country family home and his music, and she opens up to him, telling him stories about her family. They work very hard, but they also have friendly and less friendly arguments about the novel. One argument ends up with a passionate kiss from Tom and Susan violently kisses him back. However, she would like to take it back, saying that it was just one little indiscreet moment.
56	* RomComJob: She's an editor & he's a writer.
57	* {{Seers}}: Women in Tom's family had a little red mark on their forehead, called a third eye, and they were able to see the future. Tom says he has the gift a bit, too.
58	* SexySantaDress: Susan gets sexy red underpants with green Christmas tree applications from her friendly colleague Gloria. She wears it at Christmas and opens her door when Tom comes still wearing it. He happens to like it a lot.
59	* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Suzie thinks Tom is definitely Prince Charming. Susan tends to agree, but thinks he's not serious enough, and she's afraid to start the relationship. Tom really seems to be the jackpot: nice, sweet, clever, creative, rich, loves family...
60	* StrictlyProfessionalRelationship: Tom is a first time writer and Susan is an editor of his novel. They both feel attracted to each other but Susan tries to persuade herself that she doesn't want him romantically because of their friendly yet professional relationship. However, she's also afraid of commitment because her ex-husband was emotionally abusive.
61	* TimeCompressionMontage: Four key scenes show us Susan's life before the movie proper begins: seven-year-old Suzie, thirteen-year-old Suzie, Susan in her early twenties, and Mrs Peter at twenty-seven. These scenes all happen at Christmas with her family, but they are never ''truly'' happy, and each is less happy than the previous one.
62	* TrainStationGoodbye: When Susan leaves from Connecticut, Tom accompanies her to say goodbye, but they both feel quite awkward.
63	* UnfortunateNames: Tom wants to name his book ''Phooey'', which is a name of one of his aunts and a family pet name of Phoebe. Susan the editor doesn't approve of this title at all.
64	* WhatTheHellHero: Young Suzie tells off adult Susan several times. Mostly it's about how she should embrace her life and enjoy it like when she was little.
65	* WritersBlock: Dylan, one of Susan's writers, suffers from a long depression or some other mental breakdown and is currently off medication. He has written two third's of a brilliant novel and knows what to do with the rest, but he cannot bring himself to finish it.
66	* WriteWhatYouKnow: In-universe. Tom's book is based on a history of his family.
67	* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: Susan the Scrooge receives a visit from her past self to show her that it is not too late to find happiness. If you happen to miss the reference throughout, you cannot be mistaken when Susan calls Bob to apologize and introduces herself as: "It's your sister the Scrooge."

Context Film / IfYouBelieve