Three Wise Men and a Baby

Hallmark has hit the Christmas jackpot with this one.

Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad have written a script that is funny, poignant, nostalgic and heartfelt. All the things you want in a Christmas movie, and especially a Christmas movie from Hallmark. There is a good mix of humour and introspection. Couldn't have asked for better material.

And the cast! What a cast! Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell - the Holy Trinity of Hallmark leading men - are fantastic as three somewhat estranged, bickering brothers who have to look after a baby in the lead-up to Christmas. It's a transformative experience for all of them, as they undertake a crash or crash through course in parenting whilst examining their own relationships with one another.

What a brilliant film. Hallmark will have to work hard to top this one. Not just this year, but any year! 'Three Wise Men and a Baby' is THAT good.

Luke (Andrew Walker) is a fireman and one day someone drops a baby and a note specifically asking him to take care of baby Thomas. Just another day dropping babies with strangers. So, he is determined to take care of him for a few days just as the note says. Stephan (Paul Campell) and Taylor (Tyler Hynes), his brothers help him do so.

It is known this was one of the most awaited Hallmark movies of the Christmas season due to our three leads. But the fact that it was written by Paul and Kimberley Sustad improved this by a 100%.

It is funny. It is very funny. There are funny moments, there are great one liners specially by Taylor. I have never been a Tyler fan but he's been my favorite in his last two movies. (Maybe it's the beard and the short hair, who knows?)

Other than funny, it's real. You see three men taking care of a baby but you also see three boys whose father left them and all of them have insecurities or anxieties because of that. Other than that, their relationship broke as well. Funny that a unknown baby is the one to put it back together. I really liked that the romance is minimum. You blink and you missed it.

When I saw that Kimberley co-wrote this, of course I was expecting her appearance. I was not disappointed. It's a shame she wasn't Stephan's love interest. She and Paul make a great duo. You know who is also in this movie? Ali Liebert. Another favorite. This was great.

Anyway, do yourself a favor and watch this. I will definitely watch it again.

Why does this have such glowing reviews?

Three reasons:

It's very, very funny. It's well written. And the cast, for the most part, are all equally superb.

Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad have hopefully already signed long-term contracts w/Hallmark as they clearly know what they're doing. They're both not only excellent actors with great comic timing, but they KNOW HOW TO WRITE comedy -- and drama as well.

They create empathetic characters with believable relationships right from the start. No line is wasted, no line is unnecessary. A few reviewers have mentioned how horrible and unfunny it is that someone left a baby alone right before Christmas, but IMO these people must've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and are really angry about something else in their lives.

It's a MOVIE, not a documentary, and again, the way it's set up is credible, as is the resolution.

And while all three leads are great -- both funny and at times very touching -- special kudos go out to Tyler Hynes, who's dry, sarcastic delivery is spot-on, and to Margaret Collins, who matches him line for line. She's completely believable as the mother of these three misfits.

Bravo Hallmark. (Something I never thought I'd say.)

The story about three men who find a baby has been told many times in the movies, starting with a silent movie in 1916, followed by several more, most notably "3 Godfathers" with John Wayne in 1948 and 1986's "Three Men and a Baby" with Tom Selleck.

Writers Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad have taken the story and updated it in clever and expert fashion. This is extremely well written as the baby causes the three men to come to understand themselves, as well as women, particularly their own mother.

The three actors here, Campbell, Tyler Hynes, and Andrew Walker, are all just wonderful and you can tell they really enjoyed playing these parts. Supporting them are Ali Liebert as Fiona and Fiona Vroom as Susie, both very good, and the producers cleverly cast Margaret Collin, who co-starred in the Selleck movie, as the mother, and she is simply terrific. Add Matt Hamilton as an obnoxious neighbor and Sustad herself, briefly, as an ER doctor, and you've got a cast that comes together perfectly.

The direction and editing are great and serve to add to the spirited, funny, and sometimes heartwarming script.

Sustad and Campbell have written before for Hallmark (the wonderful "Christmas by Starlight") and we can only hope that this partnership continues.

Sustad's other new movie this 2022 season is "Lights! Camera! Christmas!," another "10" in my book, but "Wise Men" beats it by a "baby step" as the best so far.

If this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.

Ps Wrote the above review in 2022. Turns out that this movie was the most watched made-for-cable movie of that year in the US and Campbell and Sustad won a Leo Award in Canada for their screenplay/writing.

I just watched this a second time and I laughed out loud all over again. This is a very funny movie. These guys really work well with each other .

This was a highly anticipated all-star movie for pretty much all of us devoted Hallmark movie fans. With 3.6 million viewers on its first night, this was the most watched TV movie on cable in 2022. But that just measures how many people wanted to see it. They were not disappointed. It was great. The three wise men (Paul Campbell, Andrew Walker and Tyler Hynes) represent three of Hallmark's most likable and popular male movie stars, but there was so much more to like. Margaret Colin, who starred in the original Three Men and a Baby, was great as always. As was Ali Liebert, who has starred in AND directed other Hallmark movies. I also liked Fiona Vroom as Susie even better during the second viewing. There's a sadness below that bubbly personality that actually moved me.

Paul Campbell, who wrote this with fellow Hallmark all-star Kimberley Sustad, is also becoming one of Hallmark's best writers. And they have a real feel for comedy. But it has also been revealed that, presumably because of the great camaraderie, there was a lot of ad-libbing. Whatever the formula, it worked. There are a lot of great lines, and a few "wink winks" to those familiar with the writers. At one point, Campbell's character Stephan says:

"Well, this is an unexpected Christmas".

"Unexpected Christmas" was a great Hallmark movie from last year that Paul Campbell also wrote and which, coincidentally, also starred Tyler Hynes as a somewhat unlikeable character. People often joke about incel adult gamers living in their mom's basement, and yet this movie bravely features such a character. The one other depiction of that kind of person which comes to mind is Kevin Smith in Live Free or Die Hard. It's a testament to the charisma of Tyler Hynes that he can humanize unlikeable flawed characters.

And Campbell's anxiety ridden character had plenty of problems too (effectively depicted by the actor). Walker's Nate was the most well adjusted, but he also carried the lifelong effects of being abandoned by a deadbeat dad. I'll never understand how a father can do that. Although this is a mostly fun and upbeat movie, there is an undercurrent of sadness that these 3 brothers and their mother were left to fend for themselves. And that results in some touching scenes amidst all the laughs.

There are 2 classic moments that fans will talk about as being their favorites: the elves and Santa photo op and the 3 brothers' artistic dance routine. Both were truly wonderful.

There's also an uncredited cameo by a big Hallmark star who also has a "wink wink" line that only a true Hallmark fan will catch.

And the rest of the movie was filled with other fun lines:

"The noblest of firs, fir sure"

"Nice truck, did it come with an unearned sense of self-confidence?"

I could go on, but this was such a fun movie to watch. I hope they do a sequel. Perhaps they can do a better job of detailing the baby's mother's dire straits and desperation in Part 2.