comedy, Danielle Hoetmer, drama, Essek Moore, Judy Greer, Kynlee Heiman, Lauren Graham, Lorelei Olivia Mote, Mason Nelligan, Matthew Lamb, Molly Belle Wright, movies, Pete Holmes, reviews, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
November 12, 2024
by Carla Hay
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (2024)
Directed by Dallas Jenkins
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the comedy/drama film “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (based on the novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Six rowdy and troublemaking underage siblings cause controversy when they are cast in the lead roles of a local church’s annual Christmas pageant.
Culture Audience: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of novel on which the movie is based and heartwarming faith-based Christmas stories about families and compassion for others.
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is a Christian movie that is appealing enough to be enjoyed by people who aren’t Christians or aren’t religious. This adaptation of the classic faith-based novel of the same name is delightful but occasionally boring and repetitive. The movie’s messages about compassion transcend religion.
Directed by Dallas Jenkins, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” was written by Platte Clark, Darin McDaniel and Ryan Swanson. The movie’s screenplay is adapted from Barbara Robinson’s 1972 novel of the same name. The book was also made into a 1983 TV-movie starring Loretta Swit and Fairuza Balk.
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city) is a flashback tale narrated by Beth Bradley (played Lauren Graham), who is in her 50s and reminiscing about the time when she was about 10 or 11 years old (played by Molly Belle Wright) and she experienced the “best Christmas pageant ever.” Beth’s mother Grace Bradley (played by Judy Greer) was the unlikely pageant director, having had no previous experience directing the pageant, which had a group of rowdy siblings as even unlikely stars of the event.
As a kid, Beth was a student at Emmanuel School, a Christian elementary school run by the Emmanuel Church, which is attended by most of the school’s students, parents, faculty and staff. Some noticeable exceptions to the faithful churchgoers in this community are six siblings collectively known as the Herdman kids, who live in a shabby house with their frequently absent single mother, who is never seen in the movie. The Herdman kids’ father abandoned them years ago.
The Herdman kids, whose ages range from 6 to 12 years old, have well-known reputations in the community for being troublemakers. They steal, smoke, and cause fights. Imogene Herdman (played by Beatrice Schneider) is the oldest of the Herdman kids and is considered the biggest bully out of all of the siblings. The other Herdman kids are Claude Herdman (played by Matthew Lamb), Ralph Herdman (played by Mason Nelligan), Leroy Herdman (played by Ewan Wood), Ollie Herdman (played by Essek Moore) and Gladys Herdman (played by Kynlee Heiman), who is the youngest of the siblings.
Most of the Emmanuel School’s students and their parents fear and/or despise the Herdman kids. Why are the Herdmans attending this private school instead of a public school? Apparently, the Herdmans are charity cases. The Herdmans’ working-class socioeconomic status of being close to poverty is another reason why some of the mostly middle-class people of Emmanuel School look down on the Herdman kids.
In contrast to the Herdmans’ dysfunctional and volatile family, the Bradley family is stable and loving. Beth and her younger brother Charlie (played by Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) are good kids who don’t cause any trouble. The father of Beth and Charlie is Gladys’ husband Bob (played by Pete Holmes), who is mild-mannered and easygoing.
Emmanuel School’s Christmas pageant is called the Emmanuel Annual, which is a depiction of the Nativity story, also known as the birth of Jesus Christ. In the year that this movie’s flashback takes place, it’s the 75th anniversary of the pageant. This anniversary pageant is such a big deal, several Emmanuel School alumni will be attending this event. The pageant’s director for the past several years has been an strict, middle-aged woman named Mrs. Armstrong (played by Mariam Bernstein), but she won’t be directing the pageant this year because an accident has left her with two broken legs.
Grace ends up volunteering for the pageant after being talked down to by the community’s biggest snob: Mrs. Rebecca Wendelken (played by Danielle Hoetmer), whose daughter Alice (played by Lorelei Olivia Mote) is a student at the school. Alice, who is about the same age as Beth, has been recently bullied by Imogene. Beth and Charlie have also been the target of the Herdman kids’ bullying.
One day, Charlie lies to the Herdman kids by saying that the church gives cookies and candy as treats after each church service. It’s enough for the Herdman kids to show up after one of the services and demand to get some of these treats. The church is actually having a food drive but a kind church member offers to find what the Herdman kids are demanding.
It leads to the Herdman kids attending Sunday school at the church. The Herdman kids are not religious and ask a lot of questions about things in the Bible that don’t make sense to them. The Herdman kids also find out about the Christmas pageant.
Grace’s inexperience at directing the pageant has made some students, faculty and parents anxious about how good the pageant will be in the pageant’s 75th anniversary year. Students are reluctant to volunteer to audition for the pageant, out of fear that the pageant will be a flop under Grace’s direction. However, all of the Herdman kid volunteer for the starring roles in the pageant. The Herdman kids get no competition for these roles because no other students want to be up against the Herdmans in auditions.
With no other options, Grace casts the Herdman kids in the starring roles. Imogene has the role of Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus. Ralph has the role of Joseph, Mary’s husband. Claude, Ollie, and Leroy have the roles of the Three Wise Men. Gladys has the role of the Angel of the Lord. The other students are the backup choir singers.
Bob drives his family over to the Herdman house to deliver a whole ham as a Christmas gift. It’s the first time that Beth sees how the Herdman kids are living with a lot of neglect, and she starts to have more empathy for them in understanding why the Herdman kids are so angry. It’s never explained in the movie why the Herdman kids’ mother is away so much, but in the book, it’s mentioned that the mother is frequently absent from the home because she has multiple jobs.
The middle section of the movie tends to drag with repetition about the Herdmans causing more trouble or being suspected of causing more trouble, including arson. Grace also gets backlash from the snooty churchgoing mothers who want her to remove the Herdman kids from the pageant and have their own children replace the Herdman kids. Grace refuses this demand and says that if these other kids wanted to have the starring roles in the pageant, they should’ve volunteered when they had the chance.
The acting performances in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” are somewhat uneven, but Greer, Wright and Schneider carry the movie by portraying the convincing evolution of their respective characters, who learn unexpected things from each other. The movie is a bit preachy, but in a good way, because it has positive messages about showing kindness, patience and tolerance to people who don’t share the same religious beliefs or don’t have any religious beliefs—unlike many Christian films preaching Christianity as the only “correct” way to live. Because “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is a very faithful adaptation of Robinson’s best-selling novel, it is sure to please fans of the book as well as win over new fans.
Lionsgate released “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in U.S. cinemas on November 8, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on November 2, 2024.