We Need a Little Christmas

This is the story of Julie a new widow and single mom, who is looking at spending her first Christmas without her husband. She moves to a new neighborhood across town (I am not sure why she would want to uproot her son who is already dealing with loss) and has this big plan to do all the Christmas traditions with her son Gavin...only Gavin doesn't seem to be having any of it. Thankfully Gavin meets their next door neighbor played by Lynn Whitfield. Lynn Whitfield had to be the kindest and most understanding neighbor. She not only takes Gavin under her wing, but helps his mom realize she can't do it on her own.

Inspired by her neighbor, Julie becomes a better person and honestly a better mom.

This is a little sad for a Christmas movie...but the messages are good and it has the obligatory happy ending. Romantics will appreciate this film.

No spoilers here, as that would be unfair to the new viewers of this heart warming story. The actors all played their parts convincingly and with sincerity.

No one would dispute that the story of a widower raising her young son alone and coping with family emotions around Christmas has been over done more than we would like to see. Having said that, I thought I had the film pegged right as just another "tug at your heart strings" drama under the guise of Christmas. But I will be the first to admit that I was wrong. I will also admit that this film did in fact tug at my heart strings and in so doing I shed a few tear drops, and they were happy teardrops. Very happy teardrops.

The gist of the story really is about friends helping friends, and so I thought this Christmas themed film should be more appropriately re-titled the Beatles hit song "With a Little Help from My Friends".

I give the film a praise worthy 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.

7.8 stars.

These two endearing women carry a Christmas presentation better than most. I must say I wish to see more of them both on Hallmark this year and in the future.

The story is of an older woman (Whitfield) who dearly misses her grandson whom she's expecting home for the holidays. She lives next door to a woman (Durance) and her son who are grieving the loss of husband/father who passed about a year ago. A nice man also enters their lives soon after, and together these four characters create a wonderful story full of encouragement and healing. There's even a little spark of casual romance, suitable for the uplifting theme.

'We Need a Little Christmas' is the right mix of sadness, loneliness, hope and happiness amidst grief. It is presented in such a way to summon sympathetic tears and profound joy.

I've seen this movie a few times already. It's sweet and different from the usual feel good Hallmark movie.

I love the actor who plays the son, Gavin. Aziel Dalman. He is just the sweetest boy and perfect for the role he plays. I think he's the star of the movie.

It's a great movie for the holidays and I'll be watching it every year now.

Another plus is that it did not have the gratuitous snowball fight or kiss at the end of the movie. Hallmark proved that they can stray from the usual predictable script. I hope they will produce more original material. Lately Hallmark has been doing just that.

Some of them scenes felt awkward because of the dialogue and the camera angle choices. The lead actress was strong, as was the supporting actress. But some of the other characters could have been neighbors of the crew --that's how absolutely ZERO inexperienced they were. . It was almost cringe-worthy.

The wardrobe department did a nice job and the costumes were nicely done. The sets were done well -- not overtly repurposed buildings that are typical in Hallmark movies. And reasonably decorated for Christmas, not the typical "xmas tree in every bedroom" nonsense.

The neighbor character (and the actress playing that part) saved the movie from being a complete loss.