We Need a Little Christmas

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.

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.

The movie was decent. Th3 acting was good. There was nothing in it that made me want to watch it again in a hurry. Th3 neighbor was great and the lead male and f3male worked. Didn't see chemistry but wasn't necessarily their fault. The writing left more areas trying to incorporayeneighbor but didn't build chemistry. I would have hoped they acted more bonded like watching Christmas on my mind or one of my other favorites. Christmas in homestead worked it all. Need to pickup the pause in these or justspend logical time building chemistry versus trying to get the viewer to assume they have it. Spend more than 10 minutes to make the movie.

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.

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.