Natal Entre Amigos

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.

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.

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.

Erica Durance was very convincing as a woman (Julie) juggling a lot of challenges and emotions. She had to deal with being there for her son, who lost his father, while dealing with her own pain in losing her husband, all while trying to keep her business (and self esteem) afloat. Her character's frustration was believable, and the writers made sure to show that she wasn't perfect (who is?). Still, having a huge pile of unopened mail sitting on a table, in full view of every client who comes into her office, was a bit much, especially when her assistant pointed it out and offered to take care of it. That scene really bugged me. But her jealous overreaction to Irene's growing connection to Julie's son seemed more realistic.

At first, I thought Lynn Whitfield might be overacting a bit as the perpetually upbeat neighbor Irene. But then I realized that her character has a theatrical background and it made a little bit more sense.

I thought Julie's growing attraction to Peter (played by Patrick Sabongui) was also believable. He seemed like a nice guy.

Gavin, Julie's son, was played by Azriel Dalman and I thought he did a nice job of playing a conflicted and confused little boy.

Overall, I thought it was a solid effort.

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.