The Heist Before Christmas

This is advertised and portrayed as a family comedy with a few decent stars in nesbitt and spall. In reality it's a low budget children's tv movie with a terrible plot-line.

Looks like it was made with no budget, shocking acting and I mean shocking and where they were used rubbish special effects, no real message (shoplifting is cool) and the closing Santa scene had no conclusion I mean he stayed in hospital? Did the money run out? - Honestly terrible had waited all Christmas Day to watch and was glad there were adverts so I'd have something else to watch, one of the kids fell asleep it was so boring.

Really enjoyed watching this movie. The child actors are the absolute stars of the show. The film is set in Northern Ireland and focuses on a socially deprived family. We weren't expecting much but had lots of laughs as a family watching this on Christmas Day. It's a breath of fresh air to not watch a film about precocious wealthy children being spoiled rotten during the festive season. The true spirit of Christmas comes through by the end of the movie. There is also a bit of Home Alone style action which my kids absolutely loved to watch. The adults had quite a few laughs too. Well done Jimmy Nesbitt!

It is a movie about good people with their backs against the wall. Don't except lots of guns, dead bodies, car crashes, explosions. You would have to have a cold heart not to enjoy this movie. It is an Amazing movie if you believe that all people have problems of one kind or another in life. We all struggle with personal problems. People who still have a little bit of child left in their hearts will enjoy this moment of Christmas. If you enjoy a different slant on a Christmas movie then I recommend the movie for a laugh and a cry with some heart felt moments along the way. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas.

In director Edward Hall's low-budget, Northern Irish tv-standard Xmas romp "The Heist Before Christmas" ne'er-do-well pre-teen scrote Bamber Todd follows mean santa-suited bank robber James Nesbitt to his woodland hideout, hoping to score some of his loot... but also there in the woods is the similarly santa-suited Timothy Spall, claiming to be the ACTUAL Santa, fallen from his sleigh. Todd's bro Joshua McLees, struggling single-mum Laura Donnelly, & the po-po led by Bronagh Waugh all get pulled into a 1hr 12min tale that writer Ronan Blaney admirably avoids some big clichés in, but in so doing so leaves some holes & questions. It's not terrible, but is sadly forgettable.

Really wanted to like this but what a disappointment. Very tame storyline, unbelievable acting and cringe attempts at humour. Nesbitt gets surprisingly little screen time and Spall is poorly cast. The two exceptions were the young boys who had a big role and have big futures.

I'd say that this film is best suited to Cbeebies and doesn't warrant a prime time adult slot. It was basic, boring and poorly written.

The scenery was depressing and bleak, I know that was partly the point of it, but it was such a stereotypical view of Northern Ireland. If I lived there I'd be livid that this lottery funded film portrayed my country in this way.

Yawn!