Three Wise Men and a Baby

Hallmark has hit the Christmas jackpot with this one.

Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad have written a script that is funny, poignant, nostalgic and heartfelt. All the things you want in a Christmas movie, and especially a Christmas movie from Hallmark. There is a good mix of humour and introspection. Couldn't have asked for better material.

And the cast! What a cast! Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell - the Holy Trinity of Hallmark leading men - are fantastic as three somewhat estranged, bickering brothers who have to look after a baby in the lead-up to Christmas. It's a transformative experience for all of them, as they undertake a crash or crash through course in parenting whilst examining their own relationships with one another.

What a brilliant film. Hallmark will have to work hard to top this one. Not just this year, but any year! 'Three Wise Men and a Baby' is THAT good.

The story about three men who find a baby has been told many times in the movies, starting with a silent movie in 1916, followed by several more, most notably "3 Godfathers" with John Wayne in 1948 and 1986's "Three Men and a Baby" with Tom Selleck.

Writers Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad have taken the story and updated it in clever and expert fashion. This is extremely well written as the baby causes the three men to come to understand themselves, as well as women, particularly their own mother.

The three actors here, Campbell, Tyler Hynes, and Andrew Walker, are all just wonderful and you can tell they really enjoyed playing these parts. Supporting them are Ali Liebert as Fiona and Fiona Vroom as Susie, both very good, and the producers cleverly cast Margaret Collin, who co-starred in the Selleck movie, as the mother, and she is simply terrific. Add Matt Hamilton as an obnoxious neighbor and Sustad herself, briefly, as an ER doctor, and you've got a cast that comes together perfectly.

The direction and editing are great and serve to add to the spirited, funny, and sometimes heartwarming script.

Sustad and Campbell have written before for Hallmark (the wonderful "Christmas by Starlight") and we can only hope that this partnership continues.

Sustad's other new movie this 2022 season is "Lights! Camera! Christmas!," another "10" in my book, but "Wise Men" beats it by a "baby step" as the best so far.

If this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

Ps Wrote the above review in 2022. Turns out that this movie was the most watched made-for-cable movie of that year in the US and Campbell and Sustad won a Leo Award in Canada for their screenplay/writing.

Why does this have such glowing reviews?

Three reasons:

It's very, very funny. It's well written. And the cast, for the most part, are all equally superb.

Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad have hopefully already signed long-term contracts w/Hallmark as they clearly know what they're doing. They're both not only excellent actors with great comic timing, but they KNOW HOW TO WRITE comedy -- and drama as well.

They create empathetic characters with believable relationships right from the start. No line is wasted, no line is unnecessary. A few reviewers have mentioned how horrible and unfunny it is that someone left a baby alone right before Christmas, but IMO these people must've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and are really angry about something else in their lives.

It's a MOVIE, not a documentary, and again, the way it's set up is credible, as is the resolution.

And while all three leads are great -- both funny and at times very touching -- special kudos go out to Tyler Hynes, who's dry, sarcastic delivery is spot-on, and to Margaret Collins, who matches him line for line. She's completely believable as the mother of these three misfits.

Bravo Hallmark. (Something I never thought I'd say.)

This was better than I expected. It was nice to see men as a lead in a Hallmark movie. It's always a female. It was kind of like the 80s version three men and a baby. Three brothers ( Paul walker, Tyler Hines, Paul Campbell) are forced to work together to care for a baby and you can tell the brothers did not really get along. .This will bring them closer together and they will be able to rebuild their relationships. It was their first time being all together in a Hallmark movie and you can tell they had a lot of fun with it. Not sure what else I have to say but, my review is too short so give it a try if you like Hallmark movies. Also, the movie. Was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.

This movie has a lot going for it especially in the way it swayed from the usual generic hallmark movie format/formula, I was looking forward to it for that reason, so had higher expectations than usual and ended up having a pretty fun time. It was cute, the script was good, it was genuinely funny at times and got quite a few giggles, smiles and laughs from me. The 3 main actors were good choices for their respective roles and actually seemed to be having a nice time acting in this, which is more than I can say for some of these made for TV movies, and it still kept in the usual vein of somewhat corny, lighthearted Christmas spirit one looks for in these types of things. Worth a watch.