The movie trailers for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever made it look like a fun holiday comedy along the lines of A Christmas Story (1983).
It isn’t.
Granted, there are a number of similarities. For starters, it’s about a likeable middle-class family, a mom and dad and two young children (Beth and Charlie). The siblings are terrorized by nasty neighborhood bullies. The story is narrated by Beth as an adult (Lauren Graham), much like A Christmas Story is told through the eyes of Ralphie, as an adult. Interestingly, one of the neighborhood bullies by the name of Claude bears a striking resemblance to Ralphie. It’s not by coincidence. This is a movie unmistakably trying to rekindle the magic and mega-success of A Christmas Story.
You really can’t fault writer/director Dallas Jenkins for trying to make lightning strike again with a story like this. It might seem possible when you consider that the source material here was the 1972 international best-seller children’s book written by Barbara Robinson. For the record, it’s a book that was already adapted as a 50-minute television movie starring Loretta Swit in 1983. Jenkins expanded it to just over an hour and half of screen time.
It’s a heartwarming holiday story with a strong religious undercurrent that makes it very much unlike A Christmas Story. It’s what you might expect from a director who created The Chosen, a multi-part, multi-season series about the life of Christ.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tries to capture the look and feel of A Christmas Story, and to some degree, it does. It is a story constructed of childhood memories and the observations of the world through the eyes of a young child. There are no BB guns here, only a young girl’s Christmas wishes and prayers that her mom will somehow be successful in directing the church’s 75th annual Christmas pageant when she volunteers to fill in at the eleventh hour. It’s a very big deal for the small town. A lot is riding on its success.
The pressure skyrockets when a half dozen, dreaded, ragamuffin, criminal delinquent kids known as The Herdmans hear that free snacks will be served to all the children who participate in the pageant. They sign up, causing a shockwave when the townspeople learn that the leader of the pack—a cigar-smoking, foul-mouthed terror by the name of Imogene (Beatrice Schneider) has bullied her way into playing the star of the pageant, The Blessed Virgin Mary, despite the fact that she doesn’t know who The Virgin Mary is or what the Nativity story is about.
Her cluelessness, and the cluelessness of her siblings, sets the stage for some irreverent humor during the rehearsals. They don’t understand the details story as told in the Bible and immediately bombard the room with a torrent of comically embarrassing but largely legitimate questions.
As they learn more about the story, their curiosity and inquisitiveness kick in. Eventually, they get enthusiastic about being in the pageant despite the objections and reservations of the church’s hypocritical, unchristian congregation.
It’s this part of the story, about acceptance and fellowship, that strongly resonates and makes the movie a worthwhile holiday movie with a message.
Make no mistake, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is not a near-perfect gem like A Christmas Story. That movie will forever be a tough act to follow.
To its credit though, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a contemporary parable, one that underscores the true meaning of Christmas in a religious sense, telling the story of the Nativity in a different, non-traditional way (including a moment when Imogene as The Blessed Virgin burps the Baby Jesus, because that’s what a real mother would do).
Despite a bumpy script, the casting and performances are the saving grace of this 99-minute movie. It’s nostalgic and reverent, despite moments that fundamentalists might find irreverent, cute, and occasionally funny with all the feel-good, trademark touches of a movie made by a director who once worked for the Hallmark Channel.
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