There is no argument that this movie is formulaic. There are story-building blocks writers use to stack together and form a narrative that should result in an entertaining movie. But sometimes writers get cute and try to stack these story blocks at odd angles or use blocks that aren’t as well formed as they think, and the whole thing crumbles down. Resulting in a disappointing movie.

This is not one of those movies.

The writers combined the story elements in creative ways. For instance, the terms protagonist and hero of a story are often used interchangeably because they are usually the same person. But not in this movie. In this movie, Grace is the protagonist. She’s the one who battles against the villains—more on that later. But Grace doesn’t undergo any meaningful internal battles. She’s the same person at the end as in the beginning. Usually, the protagonist/hero undergoes some form of emotional or mental transformation in the story to become a new version of themselves. While that isn’t the case for Grace, it is true of Imogene. Imogene clearly transforms during the movie, but she’s not the one who battles the villains.

Holiday Classic

While The Best Christmas Pageant Ever hits many of the expected beats of a holiday film—a community coming together, the true meaning of Christmas revealed—it does so with a refreshing lack of saccharine sentimentality. Instead of relying on miracles or divine intervention, the film finds its magic in the messy, often hilarious reality of human interactions.

Preaching to the Choir

We have a rule here at RunPee.com that we can award an A++ rating only once a year. My criteria for an A++ movie is a movie that is flawless in all of the technical and creative aspects, but most importantly, it also delivers a message that makes me want to change. The best any story can ever hope to achieve is to inspire the viewers to undergo some transformation. In essence, make the viewer a hero. This movie isn’t an A++ for me, because I’m not the target audience that is going to be inspired to change. But I hope it will be an A++ for others.

One of the issues I have with many faith-based movies is that I don’t feel that they really inspire people to change. Let’s face it, the vast majority of the audience is already filled with faith. Most of these faith-based movies only reinforce existing values. But I noticed something distinctly different in this story. The villains are the church-going women who judge and meddle in other people’s affairs because they believe that their way is the only way. That’s a bold stance to take in a faith-based movie.

Here’s what I respect the most from the writers. There are various ways to defeat the villain(s) in a story. The obvious and most common solution is to physically punish or kill them. Think Thanos at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Thanos and his army had to be defeated on the battlefield, and ultimately, the weapon they had created to use against their opponents was used to defeat them. That’s hardly going to be suitable for a faith-based movie.

One of my favorite types of villains is the sympathetic villain, who, through the course of the movie, the audience comes to understand and perhaps agree that their goal is worthy. The typical outcome of this hero/villain interaction is that the villain is killed but, in the process, serves as a martyr that inspires change in the hero. The best example of this is the first Black Panther movie. Initially, Killmonger is portrayed as a mindless killer set for revenge. But as the story evolves, we learn that his goal isn’t such a bad policy and that Chtalla and his father before him have supported a policy that does more harm than good. In the end, Killmonger is killed, but Chtalla adopts his goals as a new policy for Wakanda. But that’s not the kind of villain we have in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, either.

The villains in this story realize the errors themselves. There’s no showdown where Grace has to lecture them on their errors. The women see it themselves though the message of the play they watch and the transformation of Imogene. The women realize how they stood in the way of positive transformation and will hopefully become better people in the future by allowing others to be who they are and follow their own path, even if it isn’t the path they would take.

That’s a powerful message for a faith-based movie to espouse. The writers and directors made it obvious but no so obvious that it might be offensive to the people who watch this movie and relate more to the villains than the protagonist. This movie doesn’t just preach to the choir; it challenges the choir to examine their own attitudes and behaviors. It’s a refreshing take that invites viewers to reflect on their own prejudices and the ways they might unknowingly exclude others from their community.

Every Hero Needs A Sidekick

The writers’ bold creativity also included creating a sidekick to the hero who starts out more antagonistic than supportive. Beth, the little girl who is tormented and afraid of Imogene, for good reason, starts out the movie praying for God to take the Herdmen children away. They are her nemesis. But by the end of the movie, it is Beth who provides support to Imogene to come back to the play. This isn’t the first time this narrative trope has been played, but it was done exceptionally well here. Again, an example of a script that has been picked clean of fat, and everything else polished.

In an interview shown before the movie, writer/director Dallas Jenkins said that he’s been trying to get this movie made for 20 years. Those were 20 years well spent making this script as tight and meaningful as possible.

Grade: A

About The Peetimes: My focus was to avoid having any of the touching/sentimental scenes in the Peetimes. I think I accomplished that.

Either Peetime is good, but I’d go with the first over the second.

There are extra scenes during or after the end credits of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

If you enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, you might also like:

• Little Miss Sunshine for its blend of humor and heart in an unconventional family story
• Elf for another tale of outsiders bringing new perspective to Christmas traditions
• The TV series The Chosen for a fresh take on faith-based storytelling

Rated:	(PG) Brief Underage Smoking | Thematic Material
Genres:	Adventure, Comedy, Drama
USA release date:	2024-11-08
Movie length:	98 minutes
Starring:	Pete Holmes, Lauren Graham, Judy Greer
Director:	Dallas Jenkins
Writer(s):	Platte Clark, Darin McDaniel, Ryan Swanson
Language:	English
Country:	United States, Canada

Plot
A suburban mom gets in over her head when she signs up to direct her neighborhood’s Christmas pageant.