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.

'We Need a Little Christmas' (2022)

Opening thoughts: 'We Need a Little Christmas' is the first 2022 Hallmark Miracles of Christmas film, which has always been a hit and miss block in all the years it's been going on. The story sounded really heartfelt, and Hallmark have proven many times that they can explore family relationships and deeper, more serious themes very well (they have not always been successful at this though). Erica Durance has been good in other things, despite a very up and down in quality filmography.

Like all the previous years, 2022 was a very up and down year for Hallmark. 'We Need a Little Christmas' is one of the better 2022 Hallmark films and one of the most charming and moving. As far as the 2022 Miracles of Christmas films go, it compares favourably and is again one of the more sincere, moving and charming ones. 'We Need a Little Christmas' may not be perfect by all means, but it is beautifully done in a vast majority of areas, especially the acting and emotion.

Bad things: It does end a little too patly in a way that jars a little.

Also did find Durance's character not the easiest to warm to at first, her lack of competence frustrating and a little silly.

Good things: Couldn't find any fault with the acting, with classy and deeply felt performances from Durance and Lynn Whitfield and a sympathetic male lead. Their characters are well fleshed out, not over perfect or excessively flawed, and relatable.

Furthermore, the script sounds natural and has real sincerity throughout, it doesn't sugar coat the serious theme without on the whole not overdoing the seriousness. The story is extremely touching and warms the heart, with everything done with a lot of honesty. All the subplots are nicely balanced and tie together cohesively, a good job is done developing them and making them relatable and true to life. The drama is not too soapy or over sentimental and it doesn't feel forced. Visually it looks pleasing, with the photography and scenery being equally attractive.

Closing thoughts: Overall, good if not great.

7/10.

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.

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.

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.