Three Wiser Men and a Boy

Five-ish years have passed since we last had the Brenner brother's making us laugh in Three Wisemen and a Baby. Now, the baby is a kindergarten boy starring in his school's play, which serves as the linchpin of this sequel that bests its predecessor, but not by leaps and bounds.

I'm a sucker for Paul Campbell movies, because I expect each to be as good as the 2021 film he wrote, An Unexpected Christmas, which is one of my favorites. Christmas by Starlight in 2020 was solid as well. Campbell wrote this one too, again with Kimberley Sustad.

Tyler Hynes is our bad boy gamer, Taylor. Andrew W. Walker is our dad, Luke. Campbell plays Stephan, our neurotic author/therapist.

I'm comfortable giving this movie a passing grade, but mostly for the writing and acting, not plot or emotional drive. It's not funny enough to be a comedy, but not serious enough to be dramatic. I like seeing this family together, even if it all seems a little unnecessary.

We don't have a single love story, but rather a family tale with multiple threads. Mom has a new man. Taylor is smitten with his female clone, Caroline. Paul struggles to commit to his long-time girlfriend. Luke, continues to learn about being a parent.

One lasting storyline that I would just love to see in other movies is the royalty free, no trademark play, The Grump. Don't call it the Grinch, because they didn't pay for those rights. It's the Grump, in Grumptown, complete with songs and rhymes. Pretty clever.

Measuring Christmas Magic: Paint by numbers magic, but it's certainly a Christmas movie.

Cast Kudos: Kimberley Sustad, in an on the nose cameo, discussing how difficult it is to do two shows one year after the last. Hmm, what exactly are we hinting at Kimberley?

Alternative Movie titles: The Brenner boys are back; Grumptown the Musical.

I've been a grump lately with very little options to watch this Christmas. I ended up rewatching Klaus coz I feel like there's not much family Christmas story this year since most movies are trying so hard to be edgy and different that they mostly lost the plot on what it takes to be a Christmas story.

This movie is such a heartwarming holiday watched. It is simple, yet it showcases what it means to be a human and flawed. It also showcases the importance of family and how to be accepting of change in our lives given that change is the only thing that's constant whether that change happened very slowly or suddenly. We have to learn how to adapt and accept things as they be.

Okay, that's too dramatic. But yeah, it's a great movie to watch if you are looking for something that will make you smile this Christmas.

Two years ago Hallmark put three of their regular Christmas romance actors together in one movie as an odd set of brothers, and the formula meshed. We found the movie to be inventive and surprising, and Tyler Hines stole the show with his understated performance but impeccable comic timing.

Two years later the story has moved five years in the future, and sadly, this story just tried to do too much. That made the presentation fractured, with not enough weight on any of the story elements to really give them the time and detail they deserved.

The objection to the mother's new paramour was trite. Tyler Hines' romance was fun, but we got too little of it. The Christmas show was amusing, but again, too little to really get to know the kids involved.

This needed to be two or three movies to do justice to everything they tried to bring across, but only delivered the "lite" versions.

It won't be a repeat watch for us.

6.6 stars.

I feel like this is a confused film. It's as if it's trying to continue from where the last one left off, while trying to convince us that five years have elapsed. However, I don't feel familiar with the brothers or the story at all. It feels foreign.

When I saw the first one, I felt similar, as if it was too silly with no plot. But I rewatched and it was better. I'm not sure if I have to watch this one again for it to improve, but I'm not feeling up to the challenge at this point. I have a gut feeling it is not going to get any better.

The plot is weak. And the way they orchestrate this children's Christmas play is strange. Would grown men actually be so inept? I'm watching three adult men bumble like adolescents. I thought they grew up by now. They actually regressed.

The story doesn't flow and contains some exquisitely slow moments. It's hard to blow a movie with so many great actors.

I have to say that I wasn't exactly harboring the biggest of expectations to the 2024 Hallmark movie "Three Wiser Men and a Boy" when I sat down to watch it. Why? Well, I assumed that it would be a generic Hallmark Christmas movie. But since I had never heard about it, and this being the season, of course I opted to check out the movie and give it a fair chance.

Writers Paul Campbell, Kimberley Sustad and Russell Hainline put together a fair enough script and storyline. It was not your average over-the-top sugarcoated sappy Christmas dribble that you usually get from Hallmark. There is actually more substance to it than just that. Sure, there is some sappy Christmas elements in here, but "Three Wiser Men and a Boy" was more than just a an average and generic Christmas movie.

I was only familiar with two performers on the cast list, and that was Christopher Shyer and Margaret Colin. However, I will say that the three leading actors Andrew W. Walker, Paul Campbell and Tyler Hynes definitely carried the movie nicely. It should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were good.

"Three Wiser Men and a Boy" is not going to become a returning Christmas classic in my household, but it definitely was an entertaining enough movie. And if you enjoy Christmas movies, then you should check out what director Terry Ingram has to offer.

My rating of "Three Wiser Men and a Boy" lands on a six out of ten stars.