A charming, thoughtful, and surprisingly layered yuletide comedy the whole family can enjoy, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will handily go down as one of the finest faith-based offerings from the current era. A film that balances silly, sometimes naughty gags with questions about faith and the true meaning of the holiday season, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (based on Barbara Robinson’s 1972 book of the same name) has a kind heart and a lot of intelligence to go along with the laughs. Kids and adults alike will easily be entertained, making this one of the most pleasantly unexpected surprises of the year and a potential holiday staple in the making.
The small town of Emmanuel prides itself on its yearly church Christmas pageant. You know the one: a bunch of kids dress up and act out a cutesy, “traditional” take on the nativity. This year’s pageant is a huge deal. It’s the 75th anniversary, and the event’s organizer and director for the past several decades (Mariam Bernstein) has been felled with two broken legs. Eager to prove herself to the alpha-moms in the community, kind hearted and community minded Grace (Judy Greer) steps up to fill the void, hoping to set a good example for her daughter, Beth (Molly Belle Wright). Pageant plans hit a major roadblock, however, when – fuelled by the promise of unlimited snacks – the positively feral, unruly, outspoken, arson prone, and tough talking Herdman kids show up at church. Led by eldest daughter Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), the six Herdmans insert themselves into the yearly production, much to the chagrin and consternation of the church’s most traditionalist members. Even though her own kids and husband (Pete Holmes) have misgivings, Grace is unwavering in her support of the virtually parentless kids, insisting that they might bring something to the pageant that has been sorely lacking for years: a sense of genuine surprise.
This adaptation of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever comes courtesy of director Dallas Jenkins, who covered similar/more adult minded territory with his previous feature The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, but is more widely known as creator of the mega-hit, faith-based television series The Chosen. Lovingly recreating small town holiday vibes with an eye drawn towards everything twinkly and old fashioned, Jenkins takes what could’ve been tossed off Hallmark level fare and makes sure it’s visually cinematic. Christmas hasn’t looked this stunning in the big screen in quite some time. In every frame, Jenkins makes it feel like he’s having a blast behind the camera, showing a true love for the little things that make the season special, but also not compromising the beliefs at the heart of the narrative.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever openly calls out Christian hypocrisy with a kind heart and words of wisdom. It calls into question people who would rather fall back on traditions instead of ever trying anything new, and church goers who see the season not as a time to reflect on faith, family, and matters of the heart, but rather as the year’s biggest fundraising campaign. In this world, a breaking with tradition allows for new perspectives on the holiday season, and sometimes a willingness to accept that the nativity story is – at its heart – a tale of struggle that has been sanitized for mass consumption and heartstring tugging cheesiness.
It’s clear that the film thinks quite highly of the Herdman clan and their boorish exploits, precisely because these are the kinds of skeptics who can ask questions that will strengthen the faith of those who truly want to believe. They’re willing to note that King Herod has generally been scrubbed from the story, and that there’s a degree of dehumanizing indignity to being forced into giving birth in a barn. They understand these characters more at their base than most members of the church, and the outsider perspective here is treated as something to be valued rather than repressed. They’re depicted as resourceful survivors worthy of love and guidance, and there’s no one better to cast in such a role than Greer.
As one of the most underrated performers of all time, Greer rarely gets a chance to headline a film, and she proves to be a perfect fit here. Grace is tough, stressed, quick witted, lightly sarcastic, and most importantly, loving without ever being cloying or fake. The tenderness she imparts on her kids, the loving relationship she has with her husband (whose own charitable works are refreshingly low key), and the conversations she has with her young actors are all memorable thanks to Greer’s ability to create one of the coolest on screen moms in such a movie. Greer treats all of her younger counterparts as dramatic equals, never speaking down to them or condescending like other adults in the town might. Greer is the tide that raises all the ships around her, but praise has to be given to Wright, Schneider, and the other kids for doing their equal part.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is sweet and gentle; naturally cliched, but not sickeningly sugary. It teaches lessons, but never in a preachy way, and although it skews Christian, it’s the kind of mainstream fare that anyone could approach without feeling like they’re being forced into hearing a sermon. And in a year where there have been a dearth of comedies – both for adults and families – it’s nice to have a film that simply wants to amuse the audience with no degree of pretension and a lot of thought and care going into its construction. Sure, this is a low bar to clear, but The Best Christmas Pageant Ever goes down so easily and warmly that it gives hot chocolate with a generous amount of marshmallows a run for its money in the good holiday feelings department.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever opens in theatres everywhere on Friday, November 8, 2024.
