The strength of Hallmark movies is that they know exactly what they are and what they want to be. They're admirably consistent in hitting those marks, except once in a while, like "A Family Thanksgiving," they just plain miss.

That's a shame, too, because "A Family Thanksgiving" stars two fine actresses: Faye Dunaway and Daphne Zuniga. Trouble is, they can't do it alone. They need a script, and this one is so formulaic and uninspired that it hardly seems to be trying.

The premise is pure Hallmark, and that's fine. Claudia (Zuniga) graduated at the top of her Harvard Law School class and now she's a jet-powered attorney, rocketing her way toward becoming the first female partner in a prestigious legal firm.

In the process, she has jettisoned everything in her life, except a few trappings of success. Her sister, a stay-at-home mom, asks if Claudia can make an apple pie for the family Thanksgiving, and Claudia reacts as if she'd been asked to cater lunch for all of Greenpoint.

When the firm asks her to ensure that a corporate client can destroy a local park for a massive development, she tells her staff they will all have to work Thanksgiving Day on the case because the court date is the day after.

That a court would set that schedule seems unlikely. Worse, "A Family Thanksgiving" doesn't seem to care about such improbabilities. Hallmark films are allowed some liberties with coincidence and unlikely events that service the plot, but this one exceeds its quota early.

Soon, Claudia runs into Gina (Dunaway), one of those magical Hallmark characters not bound by strictures of time and space. Gina's mission is to remind Claudia what's truly important in life.

Hallmark regularly has fun with characters like Gina. Here, however, she creates a situation where everything tumbles together way too neatly. Imagine "A Christmas Carol" with all the delightful nuances scrapped so it could power straight to the moral.

"A Family Thanksgiving" also leaves an uncharacteristically unpleasant aftertaste, because it ends up suggesting not just that Claudia is missing part of life, but that successful working women almost by definition must be misguided and miserable.

That may not be the intent, but a lazy script can have inadvertent side effects.

"A Family Thanksgiving" still packs enough sentimental sweetness to please many fans.

It just doesn't reach the channel's usual standard.

Fortunately, there are more where this came from. Odds are very good they will be better.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com