The Heist Before Christmas

Really wanted to like this but what a disappointment. Very tame storyline, unbelievable acting and cringe attempts at humour. Nesbitt gets surprisingly little screen time and Spall is poorly cast. The two exceptions were the young boys who had a big role and have big futures.

I'd say that this film is best suited to Cbeebies and doesn't warrant a prime time adult slot. It was basic, boring and poorly written.

The scenery was depressing and bleak, I know that was partly the point of it, but it was such a stereotypical view of Northern Ireland. If I lived there I'd be livid that this lottery funded film portrayed my country in this way.

Yawn!

The Heist Before Christmas wants to be a festive movie for the haves not. The ones that will get nothing on Christmas day because their parents cannot afford to buy presents.

Set in the working class area of Belfast. Mikey is an antisocial kid who gets into trouble at school, is well known to the police and a tearaway at home. Mikey not wanting to acknowledge that they are poor.

His mother leaves Mikey to look after his younger brother, while she works in a shop, being micromanaged by her bullying boss. He makes Scrooge look like a pussycat.

What should be a working class Christmas story gets silly. James Nesbitt's bad santa goes on the run aftering robbing a bank. Mikey decides to help him escape in exchange for the share of the £80,000 he robbed. The police are out in Belfast stopping every male dressed as Father Christmas at gunpoint.

Mikey then encounters an old man in the woods, Timothy Spall who claims to be the real santa claus.

Tonally the film is all over the place. James Nesbitt increasingly gets involved in some Home Alone hijinx.

Mikey's mother manages to find her boss cheating on the raffle draw.

There is no comeuppance here, no warm endings. It was like the story strands remained unfinished.

Great Christmas movie. Soleful with no cheese. Fabulous cast and two great young actors. James Nesbit is just enough and does not take over. Its very witty and well directed. It just shows that you dont need cgi or a massive budget to make a good heartfelt movie. Good chemistery between actors, good actors a good storyline and even some corney christmas cracker jokes works a treat. This is a nice one to watch on Christmas day for all the family while you are waiting for the turkey to cook. It is not too much or not too little just a little gem of a movie that you dont come accross all too often.

Really enjoyed watching this movie. The child actors are the absolute stars of the show. The film is set in Northern Ireland and focuses on a socially deprived family. We weren't expecting much but had lots of laughs as a family watching this on Christmas Day. It's a breath of fresh air to not watch a film about precocious wealthy children being spoiled rotten during the festive season. The true spirit of Christmas comes through by the end of the movie. There is also a bit of Home Alone style action which my kids absolutely loved to watch. The adults had quite a few laughs too. Well done Jimmy Nesbitt!

In director Edward Hall's low-budget, Northern Irish tv-standard Xmas romp "The Heist Before Christmas" ne'er-do-well pre-teen scrote Bamber Todd follows mean santa-suited bank robber James Nesbitt to his woodland hideout, hoping to score some of his loot... but also there in the woods is the similarly santa-suited Timothy Spall, claiming to be the ACTUAL Santa, fallen from his sleigh. Todd's bro Joshua McLees, struggling single-mum Laura Donnelly, & the po-po led by Bronagh Waugh all get pulled into a 1hr 12min tale that writer Ronan Blaney admirably avoids some big clichés in, but in so doing so leaves some holes & questions. It's not terrible, but is sadly forgettable.