Noel (2004)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This movie makes no sense and is a just a cheap emotion grab for the holidays. Stiff acting and weird camera work, let's hope this does not get a remake ever.

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY REVIEWED THIS FILM. THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA.This film has several inter-winding stories. Some are more interesting than others. What it shows is that we are all connected in some form. We are different but we are also the same. This film centers on five strangers who are linked together – and who meet each other at separate times – by a series of events that take place on Christmas Eve in New York.The main character is Rose (Susan Sarandon), a woman who is struggling to cope with caring for her mother, an Alzheimer's patient. Meanwhile, Nina (Penélope Cruz) and Mike (Paul Walker) are a young couple on the verge of breaking up due to Mike's increasingly jealous behavior. Elsewhere, Artie (Alan Arkin) is an old waiter who searches for his deceased wife every Christmas Eve. Finally, Jules (Marcus Thomas) is a young man who deliberately damages his hand so he can attend a Christmas party in the emergency room, as that was the only happy memory of his childhood. In addition to the five main characters, the mysterious Charlie (Robin Williams) is introduced as the person who may be able to help Rose finally realize that she must look after herself more, rather than worrying about everyone else.Some of these stories work and some don't. I think the age you are at the time of the initial viewing is important on what story you will like the best. At times this film is a great masterpiece. At other times you get very angry but I think that was the intention. This film however works wonders by making THE VIEWER ask themselves "Where Am I Now" and "Love is important do I love enough" Well worth watching. I will watch this again

I like a good sentimental holiday movie, but this one dragged on and did not interest anyone in the room. The rest of the family asked why I recorded it. Characters were hollow and poorly developed. While many cast members were great actors, the material left them with little to work with and their acting talent was not evident from this film. Plot lines were forced and incomplete. It felt like they just ran out of time and ended things. What was the deal with the guy in the ER? Did his resolution get edited out? When the movie was finally done we were left with the feeling of "what just happened her?" Was the angel figure theme supposed to mean anything? Just confusing. Does this want to be Love Actually? It's not.With so many holiday movies to choose from, I'd recommend moving on to another one. Want a sappy holiday movie - try Remember the Night or Christmas in Connecticut.

With some decent star power in the acting stakes I expected more from this confused mish-mash of a Christmas movie. The idea of entwining different individual stories into one isn't original but I thought that with a Yule-tide twist it might have come together better than it did.As usual, in the timeworn trail of George Bailey, we get a bunch of sad people at Christmas time needing a seasonal miracle to get them happily into the holiday spirit. However some of the stories are so slight and trite, they barely register, like the young man who deliberately gets himself hospitalised because he remembers a happy childhood Christmas there, away from his selfish parents, while in another bizarre episode, Alan Arkin is wasted as an old widower who tries to connect with a young cop, (Cruz's fiancé) telling him he's the reincarnation of his late wife.The main stories of lonely divorcée Susan Sarandon, with her Alzheimer's suffering mother meeting up with Robin Williams defrocked priest and Penelope Cruz as a young bride-to-be struggling with the jealousy of her fiancé, just about pass muster, but the movie falters when the stories shift focus, plus the editing is very poor. To give just one example, after Sarandon and Cruz fortuitously hook up early on in the piece, they opt out of the latter's family Christmas dinner, head to a café for what you'd expect to be a heart-to-heart chat, but which we actually never see happen and in fact they don't even meet up again. Indeed, the film doesn't really bring the five stories together at all, so that despite some decent acting by the principals it fails to gell and really transport the viewer into the Christmas spirit, even with some nice wintry New York city-scapes in the background.