Miracle in Bethlehem, PA

This was a delightful story of healing and courage and faith. We truly enjoyed it.

A nice surprise from Hallmark. Reminiscent of early years HM movies when faith was part of the story.

Loved the family support, grace in healing of relationships, and the loving way the adoption process was handled.

If your Christmas includes Christ and His birth, you will enjoy this movie.

It also addresses single parenting challenges, and forgiving past hurts.

We highly recommend this movie. It was a nice change from the cookie cutter storylines; a sweet, tender love story.

Thank you, Hallmark, for airing this one!

7.9 stars.

The most refreshing part of this film is the arguments between the lead male and his recent ex-girlfriend. What a breath of fresh air. I can't recall the last time Hallmark had actual scenes of conflict at this level of escalation, mainly the ex girlfriend is for real yelling at him, like you see in movies with genuine drama - movies other than the usual Hallmark, Family, UP. I am still surprised and it's what makes this film stand out amongst the rest, literally 600+ Hallmark films I've seen, this is a first.

The emphasis is also a bit above and beyond the norm. 'Miracle in Bethlehem, PA.' has a very inspirational and religious feeling to it. There is a focus on how most of the characters believe in the God of Christianity, and they pray for miracles and for good things, and of course, before meals.

A hot-shot single white female lawyer is finally able to adopt a baby. She's been waiting for over a year on a long list of recipients who are generally unable to have children of their own. She has had difficulty being selected due to her single status. Once she finally picks up the baby from a hospital four hours away from her home in the city, she is on her way back when a snow storm hits the east coast. She is now stuck in some podunk town called Bethlehem, PA (of all names) and can't stay at the inn (because there is literally no room anywhere), but she doesn't stay with the animals and her baby is not in a manger, but you get the point. This "loser" of a guy (really he's just mourning the loss of his dad who died fairly recently) takes her into his home until the storm passes and the roads are cleared. The two of them bond, but what's really nice is the narrative is unique and uplifting. We get a really good feeling from all the characters and the events and storyline flow. The lead male's sister has a son, about seven years old, and she's pregnant and very bossy. The rest of the characters are undeveloped. All ends well, as is the typical Hallmark "happily ever after" theme, but the road is bumpy due to the lead female's apparent lack of trust in anyone or anything (especially her family-her mother in particular). We don't really know why she's so cynical, but it's probably due to her ex-husband who left her because she was unable to have children.

P. S. The supporting female sister is a well known Hallmark regular who can't seem to land a leading role, and I suspect she never will. Also, there is a lot of discordant singing. The lead male's character is supposedly the lead singer of a band, but you can tell that he can't carry a tune. And the church choir was way off key. But maybe that's part of the charm, making this whole experience seem more legitimate.

A /Miracle In Bethlehem/PA. (2023) -

I'm not one for God bothering, the closest I get is asking my Grandad in Heaven to find me a parking space. As such and based on the title I hadn't expected to necessarily make it to the end of this film which was clearly framed around the Nativity story and yes there were a lot of references to that including the leading characters named Mary Ann (Laura Vandervoort) and Joe (Benjamin Ayres).

However, despite the fact that there were a few times where it got a bit heavy for my tastes, talking about their wonderful Lord, for the most part it was fairly subtle, which I thought was a great idea to keep the standard, less church going viewer watching. I always find it hard to get excited about a relationship when they give all the credit to almighty upstairs. I don't mind it being a bit magic and fate taking a hand, but having Faith in anything has been hard for me for a long time and worshipping a God that sends so much pain has never really made sense to me either. So anyway I liked that about it.

Otherwise the story of a snow storm trapping Mary Ann, with her new baby, in a small town where the inn was full and her only choice was to stay with the innkeeper's Brother Joe was quite sweet and I did like the leading actors.

Mr Ayres in his role of Joe was scruffy but handsome and roguishly charming. Although his breathy rasping was not what I would call proper singing. It was hard to believe that had been a previous career for him. It can't be that hard to find handsome actors that can sing please???

The singer in the church at the end was not the best choice either.

As for Laura, she was great at showing the feelings of her character Mary Ann, her torment from her last relationship and her warmth towards baby Natalie as well as her growing bond with Joe. I might have liked to have seen her with Natalie a bit more though. I supposed that was due to time constraints, which is where the rigid formulaic nature of these films lets them down. Another five or ten minutes to show her strength as a Mother would have been really beneficial to the story, because as it was it did make it look a bit like she needed a man to help her raise the baby which was sort of opposite to what her character was trying to say.

And personally I could never be away from my Mum at Christmas, so I will never understand that these people can do that? Again that is an element of these films that has always felt wrong to me, although it probably does make any reunions that they DO have sweeter?

In the end I felt that the religious bits had worked appropriately and that I'd watched something quite lovely.

7.63/10.

What a set up for a chance to leave all the viewers with a ton of war and fuzzies. But it was poorly done in a lot of the little things.

Several things were laid on too thick. Our introduction to Joe is overboard on making him out to be a juvenile slob. I don't know how old Joe is supposed to be, but Ben Ayers is 46 and Joe is still addicted to video games and not only doesn't clean his room but his entire house. Meanwhile we get the point about Mary Ann. She is having a hard time adopting. That also could have been dialed down a few notches. Then the storm. Roads closed in every direction and when they showed visuals it is a wonder Mary Ann was able to leave the hospital. So many things were laid on too thick. It happens again late with Brook and Joe's interaction. There was almost no subtlety in this movie and there was a lot of clumsiness in the presentation.

There were some clever aspects like the names, but then the attempts to draw similarities between Mary Ann and Natalie's situation against the original Christmas story was obvious and again not subtle. The conflict or obstacle didn't ring true at least not enough in my view to justify where it immediately led. Likewise the climax and conclusion. My criticisms are at times harsh, too harsh. I'm trying to say that the little things were just a bit off making what could have been a great story come out just ok. There were some definite warm and fuzzies, but not what I was hoping for and not what many other movies on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries have done, even this year.

I'm glad to see Hallmark show a movie that presents Christians in a good light and even mentions Jesus. There is prayer. There is talk about faith. There are some obscure references to the reason Jesus came, usually in Christmas songs. But what we see is simply what it is - an attempt to win points with a certain audience, the religious one. The message that did come out loudly is the same one that almost all the Christmas movies have - Yay family! But that is not the reason Jesus came. There is nothing wrong with this approach and the result, but there is also nothing special about it.

I appreciated very much the attention for religious signification of Christmas . For me , always , it is important because, in time of secularism and consumerism, the spirit of Christmas sounds as empty formula.

I appreciated Benjamin Ayres and Laura Vandervoort work, the family spirit and, not last, the frequent references to Birth of Christ , including the little Natalie or the theme of single mother .

Sure, a Hallmark, with its obvious sins and exagerations or cheese parts .

Sure, the big problem remains the pink end , forced in good measure, but , I repeat the references, in some measure too obvious to Nativity remains a precious virtue in this case.