Monday, January 02, 2012

Christmas movie review: The Christmas Pageant

The Christmas Pageant debuted on Hallmark Channel this year, although I noticed on its Web site, it does not say it's a Hallmark Channel Original Movie so I guess someone else made it. Interesting. This one stars Melissa Gilbert as a bitchy, demanding Broadway theater director who gets fired again... but before she's unemployed for too long, her agent gets her a job directing a Christmas pageant in some small upstate town. Because she needs the money and no one from Broadway is going to come running in the immediate future, she takes the job and experiences culture shock. Not only does she have to adjust to small town living, but she has to adjust to a Christmas pageant that has been put on in exactly the same manner for decades. The actors do not want her to change anything. Only one little girl is particularly welcoming to her and it turns out that the little girl is the daughter of an ex-boyfriend who now lives in this small town and actually recommended her for the pageant job. Melissa's character and this ex-boyfriend reconnect; she becomes a much nicer person; the townfolk open up to her unique way of doing things; and everyone has a great Christmas. It's one of those stories about a stingy, cranky person who becomes a better person and finds love thanks to the Christmas spirit. It was pretty cute.

Rating: B+

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