“Celebrating Hope and Faith in Jesus and Heaven”
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What You Need To Know:
The low budget in THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS sometimes shows. However, the overall story has some really fun moments, good songs, both happy and sad, and many very moving, heart-rending and even profound moments. Best of all, THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS has a strong Christina, pro-family worldview. It celebrates and extols putting God and family first, the joys of Christmas, and the hope we have in Heaven and Jesus Christ. The uplifting ending puts a happy, celebratory spin on everything.
Content:
Very strong Christian, biblical, pro-family worldview, with a Christian view of free market capitalism, celebrates and extols hope and faith in Jesus and Heaven in the final scene and elsewhere, Scripture is cited or read, movie also extols God’s grace, the importance of family over career, reliance on God during times of grief, prayer, forgiveness, charity, and helping the homeless and the stranger, plus movie says it’s good to have personal dreams but that the health, safety and love of your family is more important than any dream of being successful, movie also says the support of your family doesn’t mean you should neglect your duties as a husband, father, wife, or mother, people go to church and pray in the name of Jesus before meals, before concerts and at a cemetery, man realizes that God’s plan and love sometimes involves calling His children home to Heaven, there’s a spiritually uplifting scene with a pastor, there’s an image of a small Nativity display with Jesus at the center, one song is a prayer to God, and climactic lyrics in another song about the joys of Christmas refers to the Nativity Story and the baby Jesus;
No foul language;
One scene of violence where grief-stricken father smashes his guitar because of 18-year-old daughter’s tragic death;
No sex;
No nudity;
Three scenes where alcohol is used such as alcohol is consumed at bar where main character works, at a meeting between man and his record producer, and at a restaurant attended by both man and his record producer;
No smoking or drugs; and,
There’s a scene where troubled married man considers having an affair with his record producer but opts out of it, a homeless character seems to be a single dad, and there’s a scene where grief-stricken father argues with his pastor about his daughter’s untimely and tragic death.
More Detail:
Based on a stage presentation by the star, Derek Hinckley, the story follows Dylan, a good Christian family man who has his own country bar band, which includes himself, his brothers and his 18-year-old daughter, Molly. Molly has a heart for other people and even starts writing a pretty song about Heaven.
One night after performing at the bar, Dylan gets an offer from a female producer for a record deal in Nashville, Tenn. However, the offer would require him to uproot himself, his wife, Kara, and their four children and move down to Nashville. The family does just that, and they start working with their record label.
Sadly, however, Molly tragically dies in an accident on Christmas Eve, causing great heartbreak for everyone. The guilt and grief especially gets to Dylan, and this causes a huge rift between his family and him.
During the following year, Dylan throws himself into his career, neglecting his wife and children. His wife, Kara, accuses him of being emotionally distant. His two sons, Zeke and Zane, want nothing to do with him. Meanwhile, his youngest daughter, Sadie, starts feeling less valued. On top of all that, Dylan’s relationship with God is slowly drift away.
Will Dylan end his slide into darkness and recover his love for his family and for God?
The low budget in THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS sometimes shows. So, some scenes play better than other. Also, the second and third acts are a little long. However, the overall story has some really fun moments and many heart-rending and even profound moments. Also, the acting is superb when it counts. The songs are pretty good too, especially the title song, a song about moving into a new house, a hopeful song the young daughter sings to a new friend, two musical prayers to God, a song about family, and a song about Heaven. Everything leads to an uplifting, emotional ending featuring the title song.
Best of all, THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS has a strong Christian, moral worldview. The movie celebrates and extols hope and faith in Jesus and Heaven in the final scene and elsewhere. Also, a biblical passage from Hebrews about angels is read at the end. THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS also extols God’s grace, the importance of family over career, reliance on God, prayer, charity, repentance, forgiveness, and helping the homeless and the stranger. Eventually, Dylan learns that the health, safety and love of his family matter more than his career or his personal dreams of success. He also realizes that God’s plan and love for us sometimes involves Him calling His children home to Heaven.
All in all, therefore, THE BEST THING ABOUT CHRISTMAS is an uplifting Christmas movie, despite the tragedy that leads into the story’s middle part. It also has one of the best new Christmas songs written in years.
