Nativity!

Released back in 2009, this little British Christmas movie was directed by Debbie Isitt, whose only other notable directing credit before this was the woefully awful mockumentary film, Confetti. Yeah. Starring the likes of Martin Freeman, Ashley Jensen, Marc Wooton, Pam Ferris, Alan Carr,  Jason Watkins & Ricky Tomlinson, will this be as charming & funny as a primary school nativity play filled with mistakes, or is it just another cheap Christmas movie with false sentiment? Let's take a look!

The plot for this movie is actually really simple: A downtrodden school teacher has to put on a nativity and due to a whacky misunderstanding, the school believes that Hollywood will be coming to see and film it as a rival school teacher puts on his own nativity with a...strange spin. Yes, it's that kind of plot. While they do resort to the liar revealed cliche, it's not really as bad because of the fact the children still want to do it regardless of whether or not Hollywood executives came to see it. However the whole 'Hollywood seeing a school Nativity play' set-up itself is WAY too far fetched for such a supposedly small and quirky British movie. And given that this is the driving force, this can be a BIG problem since the kid's, the parents and the entire bloody town fall for such an obvious lie. And some of the characters can be pretty stupid with believing anything that Mr Poppy says, although thankfully this is quickly negated with a few moments of realism such as an accidental case of child abduction. There are also some pacing issues here and there and the tone can get a bit TOO cutesy for my taste, especially by the end with a rather ridiculous twist, even if it lets the nativity itself take up the time. However, there are two things which save the plot from being terrible: the humour and emotions. I'll explain more about it when I get to the characters, but the interactions between Mr Maddens and Mr Poppy can lead to some of the film's funniest moments because of the straight-man/comic man pairing. This also helps restrain Poppy's childlike ideas and it does deal with the consequences of his actions. The emotions come in thanks to the acting because they help bring the characters to life and some can be genuinely heartwarming or saddening. I know it , but I will say that small children and family audiences will eat it up.

Characters: Admittedly, the characters themselves are pretty cliched when put on paper, but the execution can really make up for it. Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) hates Christmas because his girlfriend left him five years ago for a job in America and is unwillingly forced to do St Bernadette's Nativity play. Thanks to Freeman's charming & surprisingly raw performance, he makes this cliched character likeable & his dry straight man persona did get a lot of laughs out of me. Mr Poppy is the child-like assistant teacher & nephew of the headmistress who convinces the kids over Hollywood seeing their nativity play. I get why kids would like him & while he did get quite a few chuckles out of me, some of his antics annoyed me because of his more over the top personality & yelling, but this is quickly negated by Freeman's contrasting straight man managing to restrain him, making it all the more funny. The kids themselves are all pretty cute & quirky & it really helps that the director just lets them do their own thing by improvising most of their antics rather than woodenly reading off a script, even if a t times they can come across as a bit cloying. Jennifer (Ashley Jensen) while not onscreen for that long, can still have her funny moments & is shown to be more than just Paul's love interest as she's clearly determined for the children to get what they want. Mrs Bevan (Miss Trunchbull herself Pam Ferris) is the headmistress who forces Paul to do the Nativity & makes the the lie go even further. Gordon Shakespeare (Jason Watkins) is the pompous pseudo-villain who wants to outdo St Bernadette's with his RSC inspired Nativity play. Other characters in this include critic Patrick Burns (Alan Carr) who can have his funny moments despite his obvious cliche, the kind hearted Mayor (Ricky Tomlinson) and Father Tom (the late Geoffrey Hutchings). They're all fine within themselves and can have their funny moments even if they're cliched and don't really appear as much as you'd expect. Thanks to the strong acting, they help bring these cliched characters to life.

Songs: Yes, this is actually a musical and I must say, the songs for this actually pretty good! They admittedly can be cloying and cheesy, but they bring the charm to the Nativity play and do sound like something you'd hear if you heard the words 'Primary School Nativity play with original songs). Nazareth is a sweet and catchy introductory song, although some lyrics can admittedly be a bit clumsy/dated. One Look is also a sweet little song and it is cute that most of the kids get to play Mary & Joseph during it. She's the Brightest Star is clearly an NSYNC/Backstreet Boys parody which admittedly made me chuckle a bit. The Good News Song was probably my favourite one because of the very catchy and the funny take on Angel Gabriel almost being like a cross between Elvis Presley and Sparkle & Shine was pretty fun and catchy little tune. Finally, One Night, One Moment is admittedly way too cheesy for my taste cos of the overtly schmaltzy lyrics which made me feel like I was listening to an X Factor winner's song. And obviously, there's the cliched modern Christmas songs from the public domain like the Jackson 5 cover of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Sleigh Ride & I'm a Little Christmas Cracker which are good on their own (obviously). Sure, the original songs are all corny & syrupy, but I'll admit that there are some which I have a soft spot for.

Nativity! is definitely a sweet Christmas family film for this generation. With great acting, a simple (if not a tad too far fetched) story, fun songs & cute kids, I definitely recommend it for a families during the holidays. Although I'll admit that I didn't think it was as good as I first remembered after a second viewing, it doesn't really change that I still like to watch it during the holidays despite my problems with it. Given its reputation now and the upcoming stage version, it is pretty clear that the movie has had an impact on British Christmas. As for the sequels...*Sighs* just wait until tomorrow & the day after...
Story: 😕
Characters: 😊
Songs:😊
Overall: 😊