Martin Freeman

Ashley Jensen

Marc Wootton

Pam Ferris

Jason Watkins

Ricky Tomlinson

Alan Carr

John Sessions

Phyllis Logan

Geoffrey Hutchings

Clarke Peters

Rosie Cavaliero

Ben Crompton

Llewella Gideon

Selina Cadell

Martha Howe-Douglas

Matt Rippy

Rhydian Jones

Neil Fitzmaurice

Karl Theobald

Jake Pratt

Oscar Steer

Bessie Cursons

Ben Wilby

Katie Maguire

Alexandra Allen

Bernard Mensah

Brandon McDonald

Cadi Mullane

Ellie Coldicutt

Dominic McKernan

Faye Dolan

James Warner

Ashley Blake

Jesus de Miguel

Paul Moorhead

Darren Parkin

Matt Barron

Caitlin Cronin

Joe Lane

Joshan Patel

Krista Hyatt

Maeve Dolan

Michael McAuley

Milly Webb

Morgan Brennan

Rebecca Maguire

Reece Stowe

Rhyannon Jones

Sam Tott

Sydney Isitt-Ager

Thomas McGaritty

Harvey Flannigan

Aiodfe Mcleod

Anna Price

Arun Nahar

Bethany Carter

Charlie Dixon

Cherie Ng

Eleanor Bonas

Francesca York

Freddie Watkins

Georgina Owen

Hannah Ciotkowski

Harriet Kilner

Hayley Downing

Imogen Stern

Katie Stafford

Lauren Downing

Lily-Rose Sharry

Michael Brown

Safiyah Asharia

Molly Burton

Mi Tuulikki Kelly

Salim Zayyan

Drew Taylor

Ben Hodge-Mckenna

Charlotte Dewis

Grace Paremain

Harriet Sutton-Green

James Osborne

Lilly Kennedy

Lucy Tomkins

Maisie Kelly

Olivia Lambie

Paige Rice

Shona Eaton

Sophia Ford

Tia Thompson

Karen Mckernan

Angie Thiari

Tina Kelly

Rachel Convey

Phil Mcauley

Mary Hart

Peter Isitt

Estelle Brennan

Barbara Isitt

Lucy Mcgaritty

Sally Isitt

Debbie Isitt

Andrew Rutter

Sean Van Hales

Nicky Ager

Richard Turner

Rachel Freck

David M. Thompson

Faye Humphreys

Gisela Evert

Neesh Ruben

Jay Bartmanis

Andrew MacLeod

Joanna Campbell Lynch

Ricky Butt

Karen Maxwell

Luke Cairns

Stephanie Collie

Amanda Foster

Anna James

Nick Jones

Tony Boffey

Jamie Caple

Vidya Krishnamurthy

Samantha Ferry

Simon Bysshe

Tim Walton

Jody Eldred

Colin Kiddell

Riky Ash

David Gwyther

Michael Henry

Joe Oppenheimer

Jake Rollins

Tim Drewett

Rob Jones

Lee Thomas

Steve Knight

Nina Khan

Polly Fryer

Jemma Carballo

James Zeb Ashley

Tim Stevenson

Tom Rye

Eddie Beasley

Chris Roope

Nativity Collection

Comedy

Family

Nativity!

BBC Film

Screen West Midlands

Mirrorball Films

United Kingdom

English

As warm and as enchanting as a Whisky Mac.

He's a failed actor, his girlfriend has left him and gone to make it big in America, and now, school teacher Paul Maddens has to direct the Nativity play. Worse still, after a little white bragging lie to an old rival, Maddens finds things escalating out of his control.

Ah, the Christmas movie, a piece of work aimed at a certain market at a certain time of year. Many movies of Christmas past have been excruciatingly bad, either by losing sight of the holiday heart, or by going for a different angle at a season which is meant to be jolly. In the main then, the Crimble picture has been blighted by a train of thinking akin to damned if you do, damned if you don't. Debbie Isitt's Nativity! will not achieve any reviews proclaiming it to be refreshingly new, rightly so since it's a standard seasonal fare based story. What hopefully will be said is how utterly beguiling and warming the film is, so yeah! Basically a Christmas picture doing its job.

Chiefly in its favour is that it has a naturalness to it that keeps its charm grounded. There's no miracle in the offering here, no boink over the head with a sledgehammer to enforce its message. Isitt is happy letting the film and its delightful characters go with the flow, the result ending up as being a fully involving experience. It helps too that the army of children (plucked from local auditions by Issitt) are adorable and funny in equal measure. Not that the adults come up short either. Martin Freeman (Maddens) gives a wonderfully controlled performance as the central character, while Marc Wooton as Mr. Poppy, a character showing the child in all us adults, almost steals the movie from the delightful moppet squad. It has its faults, such as a trip to America that quickly loses momentum, and if we are honest then surely the actual Nativity finale goes on a touch too long. But such missteps are easily forgiven given the impact as a whole.

My cinema visiting group at Xmas 2009 consisted of 4 adults and 4 teenagers. As we filed out, there was a mixture of wet eyes and beaming smiles. So yeah! Job done for sure. 8/10

Footnotes: Xmas 2013. With a sequel hitting the theatres this Christmas I thought it time to revisit this film. Delighted to report that it still manages to warm the old cockles of my Xmas heart and remains a seasonal picture that I urge more folk to seek out.

Xmas 2015. Rewatched, still lovely.

Silly and stupid, but it has a charm to it. <em>'Nativity!'</em> is not a film to be taken seriously, though there is entertainment in there.

Martin Freeman does well as the flawed Mr. Maddens, while Marc Wootton fully commits to the role of somewhat dodgy Mr. Poppy - he can be irritating in parts, but all in all comes out more fun than annoying... albeit just. I also found Alan Carr surprisingly amusing as Patrick Burns. Interesting to see Clarke Peters, Ricky Tomlinson and Jason Watkins involved too.

It's clearly made for families and young audiences, as such I think they did a good job with this. It works. It's sweet seeing the kid cast members have so much fun with it.

Intrigued to see what the three sequels have in store.

Nativity! - Trailer

Nativity Trailer

Nativity!

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