Showtime (Sat., Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m. ET)
B-
Set in rural Florida, this family drama retains warmth even when it loses credibility. A poor white woman (Helen Shaver), working seven days a week to support her three kids, grows concerned when they start spending most of their time with a better-off black farm family, whose matriarch (Diahann Carroll) appears more suited for the country club than the country. The film takes a didactic tone on racial matters, but the growing friendship between Carroll's restless adult daughter (Tisha Campbell) and Shaver's adolescent girl (Kristin Fairlie) gives The Sweetest Gift something pleasing to offer.
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