We Need A Little Christmas

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.

Have tissues ready for this ending. Absolutely loved the message in the movie. Such a sweet movie that's not about the woman getting a man in the end and ending the movie with a kiss. Which 90-99& percent of Hallmark movies tend to do. This movie is about much more than this. I would recommend you giving this one a watch at least one time. Irene and Julie Julie's friendship is so sweet and it just shows no matter age, race, background, etc. You can love your neighbor and truly be friends.

This is one movie that would sit down and watch every miracles of Christmas. The actors worked really well together.

I may have shed a few tears at the end of this one. Although a little over the top for most of the movie, Lynn Whitfield bought it home in the final touching scenes. The other great thing about this one was the male love interest. The actor was so appealing playing normal looking guy in his 40s who was popular with and respected by everyone from the rich and influential to the humble and normal people. Because he was just such a mensch.

Erica Durance plays a recently widowed mother of a young son trying to work through her own grief and help her boy. Unfortunately, she has the wrong end of the stick as far as her strategy and her son doesn't want to open up to her because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings. She runs a small boutique architectural firm specializing in remodeling businesses and homes. She is very disorganized which we see immediately because of the pile of unopened mail on the desk and won't delegate to her very competent employee who has been with the firm from the beginning. I hate inexcusable incompetence so she got on my bad side right away. (her employee takes it upon herself to take care of the mail near the end of the movie and she finds a $5000 check the business is owed!) She has a very ugly jealous encounter with Lynn Whitfield over her son's opening up to her and not herself. In the end, she did redeem herself and overall she was a nice woman and good at the creative end of the business, so I did forgive her.

I find it very difficult to watch actresses of a certain age who have sabotaged their ability to convey emotion with facial expressions because of the Botox and fillers. Sadly, Erica Durance has succumbed to this common practice. I know that sometimes these actresses are between a rock and hard place and are under a lot of pressure to take care of that forehead or whatever. But I find it too distracting. It's all I can look at when it is so obvious and takes me right out of the movie.

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.