The Christmas Pageant

Melissa Gilbert is so annoying in this movie. She also looks terrible - why, with all their money, do some stars get the worst plastic surgery? She should have left her looks alone. I know there is usually a character in Hallmark Christmas movies who is resistant to the good spirit of the holidays, but there is nothing appealing about her character. She's just nasty. This is a boring waste of time.

This is an utterly predictable but sweet and well-told story. Melissa Gilbert plays a stage director who has annoyed everyone in Manhattan, so when she gets an offer to direct a Christmas pageant somewhere upstate, she takes the gig. The usual heartwarming journey of self-discovery and love ensues.

Miss Gilbert gives a very graceful performance and is willing to undergo the indignities that the occasional bit of farce demand. The roles are one-note affairs, although the way the love interest slides in is interestingly handled. In short, this is the usual Hallmark Channel non-fantasy Christmas story.

Wow: this has it all. Funny,serious,love story and yes even a little action. Yes I Highly recommend this. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas. 11-18-2020

Overall, this was exactly what was expected from a cute Christmas show - no more, no less. Ed Hermann is annoying as the B&B proprietor and his wife is a cookie cutter Mrs. Claus type. Robert Mailhouse overdoes the love interest and I kept seeing his daughter in her commercial role as 'Lemonade Susie'. The worst character is Melissa Gilbert as a completely unbelievable Broadway director from the Big Apple. Bad plastic surgery, too much baggy clothing to hide an aging heavy body and too many red hair extensions make her more pathetic than likable. Regardless, if you enjoy Christmas programs that romanticize small town 'Its a Wonderful Life', this is for you. I gave it three stars only because its Christmas fun. Enjoy it with a cup of peppermint tea and honey.

"The Christmas Pageant" takes a stab at a different movie for the holidays, but it doesn't quite work. And, while romance isn't the constant thread in this film, it still fits in that largest group of films made for Christmas time release.

The idea of a Broadway director being canned and having a reputation so that she can't find a job is quite a stretch to begin with. That she would then wind up being paid to direct an adult Christmas pageant in upstate New York is another stretch. But, stretches are okay if the movie can convince the audience. That takes a very good plot and good acting. In this case, it hinges on one role - that of Vera Parks, the director.

The scene that leads to her firing from her last off-Broadway play is laughable. Melissa Gilbert as Parks shows about as much temper, impatience and nastiness as Winnie the Pooh. Her mannerisms and attitude don't come near convincing one that she is a hard-nosed director whom cast members can't get along with or tolerate. No, Gilbert needed to show some real nastiness in her early scene, and she just doesn't have it. Nor does she have it when she goes to tackle the small town Christmas pageant.

So, the rest of the story plays out mostly with a small bunch of local folks, most of whom have their own little eccentricities or problems. And, Vera discovers that her former fiancé of 10 years earlier is a widower with a cute and clever young daughter. Can anyone guess how this might end? It gets five stars precisely because of the corny characters who give this so-so film a little feeling of fun anyway.