PHOENIX (AZ Family) — Naughty or nice… why not both?

summary

Grace Bradley (Judy Greer) is tasked with putting on his church’s annual Christmas pageant, which is met with mocking and mocking from some arrogant congregation. His job gets even harder when the Herdmans, a clan of delinquent teenage brothers, join the show and take over the competition. Can Grace and the Herdmans win the public’s affection by performing? The Best Christmas Show Ever?

my thoughts

It’s approaching Christmas time again, and with a new Christmas season comes a new Christmas movie vying to become a new “Christmas classic” that will play in living rooms for years to come. At this point, there are so many different Christmas movies that they all feel exactly the same in some way, but maybe that’s the point. It’s all about tradition, right?

The Best Christmas Show Ever Adapted from Barbara Robinson’s 1972 novel. I wasn’t familiar with the source material but it looks like the director dallas jenkins and writers Ryan Swanson, Platte ClarkAnd Darin McDaniel It accurately captured the tone of a quirky 70s children’s novel about realizing the “true meaning of Christmas.” Like the various films that inspired it, this story has a timeless quality despite the retro setting.

Practice what you preach

Jenkins said he has wanted to adapt this story for two decades, and his background as a Christian filmmaker greatly influenced the story here. I haven’t seen his other work, but I’m certainly surprised that a film that wears Christianity on its sleeve never comes off as preachy. Obviously, the values ​​of loving and accepting everyone despite their faults are preached to the audience, but it’s never done in a condescending, holier-than-thou way.

Even if you are a secular family that celebrates Christmas without a religious aspect, the message in the story is still strong. You could remove the Christmas element entirely and tell a story about some misfit kids getting a second chance from the community and getting the same result. The filmmakers had their hearts in the right place, and while it can be a bit playful at times, there’s a seriousness to it all.

Jenkins knows that the most important thing when it comes to filmmaking is the need to entertain the audience, and The Best Christmas Show Ever It was actually pretty fun. With characters for all ages, there’s plenty for adults and kids alike to enjoy. The dialogue was also quite sharp; At some moments I wasn’t just giggling, I was actually laughing out loud.

It’s really the little hellish Herdmans who make this mostly fun to watch. While they are definitely troublemakers and bullies, they are obviously good-hearted. Their sarcastic perceptions of the nativity story were hilarious from a naive, childlike perspective; like questioning why an innkeeper would turn away a pregnant woman or wanting to execute King Herod for trying to kill baby Jesus. This is a story that treats the birth of Jesus respectfully, but doesn’t shy away from a joke or two when examined more critically from a modern perspective.

Chaotic Christmas

Although it’s mildly entertaining, I think what keeps this from being a true Christmas classic is its lack of a central character. Grace’s daughter Beth (Molly Belle Wright) is technically the main character because he’s the one narrating, but he doesn’t do much until the end. Since most of her screen time involves narrating her adult self, Wright is forced to stand in the background with a blank expression. Lauren Graham explains his thoughts.

Jenkins was going on a trip A Christmas Story But unlike that iconic movie, the child actor’s narration and leading performance are not that humorous and interesting. Beth is generally a blah character, which unfortunately also applies to all the other child characters except Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), the eldest of the shepherds. They’re all there, fidgeting in their seats as they wait to say their lines.

Imogene truly feels like the main character as she best represents the story’s themes and has the most depth. Schneider is a talented young actor who takes on an emotionally heavy role, sometimes without dialogue. It’s a very sweet and natural performance that greatly elevates the more dramatic scenes, especially at the end. Developing his and his siblings’ characters a little more would have made these scenes even better.

Judy Greer is amazing as always; She aptly portrays the sweet suburban mom trying to prove her smug neighbors wrong. Grace and her husband Bob (Pete Holmes) are two of the few decent adults in the entire story, so they’re easy to root for. While we’ve all seen the snobby townsfolk needing to learn the true meaning of Christmas many times before, Jenkins still executes these clichés well enough. It helps make it look like everyone involved is having a good time.

final decision

The Best Christmas Show Ever It’s certainly not the most original movie out there, but it more than does the job for families who want a fun Christmas outing at the movies. I don’t think Jenkins has created quite the Christmas classic he was hoping for, but he has created a funny, heartfelt movie that everyone can enjoy on some level. A Christmas that represents what Christmas is all about, is all inclusive and doesn’t alienate anyone.

My score: 6/10

The Best Christmas Show Ever It will be released in theaters nationwide on Friday, November 8th.

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