Imogene Herdman (Beatrice Schneider) and her brother Ralph (Mason D. Nelligan, center stage) play Mary and Joseph, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
Set in the fictitious small town of Emmanuel in the early 1970s, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is the (finally!) wholesome Christmas movie you’ve been waiting to take your kids to see.
A period piece similar to last year’s Christmas movie “The Holdovers,” it’s got the subdued hues, budget furniture, and wood-paneled station wagons that give verisimilitude to the time people are currently creating groups on Facebook to get wistful about: the throwback days when kids jumped Schwinn Stingray bikes off plywood-and-cinderblock ramps with nary a helmet (nor a helicoptering parent) in sight.
Directed by Dallas Jenkins, and based on Barbara Robinson’s 1972 book of the same name, this is a story about the Herdman family, and how they came to know the true meaning of Christmas.
The Horrid Herdmans
(L–R) Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), Ralph (Mason D. Nelligan), Claude (Matthew Lamb), Leroy (Ewan Wood), Ollie (Essek Moore), and Gladys (Kynlee Heiman) are the Herdman kids, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
Remember Harry Potter? When I say “Herdmans,” think the Weasley family’s distant trailer park muggle-cousins. They’re numerous and ginger too. Beth, the narrator (Lauren Graham of “The Gilmore Girls”) says it best: “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.”
First Things First
(L–R) Grace (Judy Greer), Charlie (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez), Beth (Molly Belle Wright), and Bob (Pete Holmes) are the Bradley family, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
Young Beth (Molly Belle Wright), her little brother Charlie (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) and all their pals in grade school (including teachers, staff, and sundry townfolk) are terrified of the Herdmans.
Apparently their dad hopped a freight train outta town and whether their mother even exists cannot be ascertained. And so these “when-they-were-bad-they-were-horrid” latchkey Weasleys bully, extort, steal, vandalize, smoke cigars (even the girls), and indulge in various minor forms of arson, like burning the neighbor’s tool shed to the ground. But, you know, everyone agrees that shed was an eyesore and really needed to go anyway, so maybe the Herdman kids can be excused for that one particular thing.
Hooligans and ne’er-do-wells! Bad side of the tracks! It’s amazing they show up for school at all.
Church
(L–R) Gladys (Kynlee Heiman), Claude (Matthew Lamb), Ralph (Mason D. Nelligan), Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), Leroy (Ewan Wood), and Ollie (Essek Moore) terrorize church-going kids with snowball bombardment, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
Obviously, everybody in this God-fearing town attends church and its Sunday school except the little redheaded demon-brats. But the holidays are coming! The town begins to prep for the church’s annual Christmas pageant. This will be the 75th anniversary. Beth and her dad (standup comedian Pete Holmes) wax poetic about how unbelievably boring the entire affair always is.
However, the pageant’s hidebound, stodgy, tut-tutting perennial director, Mrs. Armstrong (Mariam Bernstein) has to go to the hospital. Beth’s mom Grace (Judy Greer), feeling the weight of duty, unenthusiastically volunteers to direct instead, much like Mila Kunis’s character stepping up to run for PTA president, in “Bad Moms.”
Mrs. Armstrong (Mariam Bernstein, 2nd from right), and the disapproving church moms, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
Grace deliciously turns out to be that kind of mousy, demurring mom, at first glance, who, when disrespected by the other snarky, status-conscious church moms, metaphorically undergoes a transformation like Mystique in “X-men.”
She reveals a will of won’t-back-down steel, along with the superpower of highly accurate (if slightly passive-aggressive) snark, who can more than give as good as she gets. Which is also like Mila Kunis’s character in “Bad Moms.” In fact, if there’s a “Bad Moms III,” they should write in a role for Judy Greer.
It’s Grace’s rise to the challenge that coins the film’s title.
Bob Bradley (Pete Holmes) gives his wife Grace (Judy Greer) some encouragement, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
When the Herdman kids happen to overhear there’s free food to be had after Sunday school, they descend en masse upon the church, much to the horror of all present. This is where they hear about the Christmas pageant.
The kids don’t know anything about the real Christmas story; they don’t know about the birth of Jesus, don’t know a shepherd from a wiseman, and c’mon—what kind of ridiculously bad presents are frankincense and myrrh? And what are frankincense and myrrh anyway??
Eldest (and ringleader) Herdman sibling Imogene (Beatrice Schneider) is so fascinated with the concept of acting that she insists on playing Mary in the pageant. Her brothers and little sister will play roles as well, under pain of death.
Soon there’s a hoard, or, er, herd of Herdmans hunkering in the local library, doing research for their respective roles like A-list thespians. Why? They’ve never heard of a situation where, for a brief moment in time, you can forget all your worries and troubles, and blissfully be somebody else.
Most of the church is naturally scandalized by the fact that the plum roles their offspring should have had (Mary, Joseph) will now be going to these delinquents. Only Grace really understands the healing power of theater, and what a Christmas pageant should be. She gives the so-called bad kids a chance. Because there are no bad kids.
Imogene Herdman (Beatrice Schneider, L) and Grace Bradley (Judy Greer) stand in front of a picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Imogen is concerned she's not pretty enough to play her, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
The way the Herdman kids are drawn to the story like moths to a flame, when Grace reads it to them from the Bible, will have you tearing up, especially when you suddenly realize that these kids have had a really tough life, and that quite a lot of their bad behavior is based on survival.
‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’
Given their living situation, a more realistic treatment of the Herdmans would make them more malevolent. They exhibit more mischief than menace, and the movie keeps their mayhem PG-mild. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is wholesome to the point that Imogene saying “My God!” is scolded as taking the Lord’s name in vain. Yet, it’s never sanctimonious. It’s actually nice to be reminded that long ago, reverence for the divine was that powerful. Overall, the tone is broad, kind, and playful.
As mentioned, Greer is excellent, and her journey touching. The actual pageant itself is at times hilarious, what with Imogene doing some “Method acting” and burping the baby Jesus as she’s learned by raising her siblings. The entire church is suddenly delighted and chuckling, much to their curmudgeonly surprise.
Imogene Herdman (Beatrice Schneider) and her brother Ralph (Mason D. Nelligan, center stage) play Mary and Joseph. In front of the cradle is the ham that Bob gave the Herdman children. They didn't eat it because they thought it would make a better gift for baby Jesus than frankincense and myrrh, in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
What’s most magical is when Imogene suddenly finds herself in that state all actors strive for: channeling. When the audience realizes Imogene has transcendently become a vessel for something far greater than herself, and understand the subsequent healing that will now accompany this little girl for the rest of her life—priceless.
“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” might be aimed at faithful families. But like Imogene Herdman, it may channel something greater than itself, and gift audiences the ability to feel compassion for the unfortunate during this Christmas season, and beyond.
Promotional poster for “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Lionsgate
‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’
Director: Dallas Jenkins
Starring: Judy Greer, Pete Holmes, Molly Belle Wright, Beatrice Schneider, Lauren Graham
MPAA: Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Release Date: Nov. 8, 2024
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to the world’s number-one storytelling vehicle—film, he enjoys martial arts, weightlifting, motorcycles, vision questing, rock-climbing, qigong, oil painting, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by a classical theater training, and has 20 years’ experience as a New York professional actor, working in theater, commercials, and television daytime dramas. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook “How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World,” which is available on iTunes and Audible. Jackson is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
