NOEL

NOEL is a strange movie that didn’t last long at the theaters. It’s produced by some Christian friends of MOVIEGUIDE®, but it embodies a cacophony of myth conceptions, as MOVIEGUIDE® editor Tom Snyder would say, including reincarnation, spiritism, angels, and other non-Christian elements. Set on Christmas Eve in New York story, it tells the story of five individuals. And that’s the problem. It skips from one story to another without a cohesive whole.

The three dominant stories are about a policeman named Mike whose jealousy is destroying his relationship with his beautiful fiancé, Nina. The tragic story of Artie, played by Alan Arkin, who killed his wife and her paramour in a jealous rage, helps Mike see where jealousy can lead. Susan Sarandon plays Rose, who has spent her life taking care of other people. Her encounter with the spirit of a dying man, Charlie Boyd, helps her to learn to appreciate herself and focus more on her life and less on the life of her catatonic mother. Robin Williams, who is uncredited in the movie, plays Charlie Boyd.

NOEL has some warm, touching moments, but it quickly unravels and confuses. It is surprising that these actors signed on for this movie. It shows the necessity of having a good script, and the fact that many people cannot recognize a bad script when they see it. Although it makes some good moral points at the end about love being the greatest gift, NOEL is not worth the price of a rental or a ticket. What’s worse, it’s supposed to be a Christmas movie, but faith in Jesus Christ has little to do with the movie.