Plot Summary
Dan Reed is just a nice Christian mayor of a small Alaskan town, but when his old high school rival\friend, Mitch Bright, comes to town, Mitch just wants to mess up Christmas for everybody. Mitch is mad that Dan took his girl in high school, so Mitch decides to take it out on Dan by suing the town for having a manger scene on public property. Will the war on Christmas never end?
Production Quality (2 points)
In keeping with most PureFlix films, Christmas With a Capital C is mostly fine, including good video quality, audio quality, and camera work. The soundtrack is what one can expect from a Christmas film. Some sets are limited, but there are some good outdoor locations that redeem this. The prop choices are mostly fine, but there is a slight over-abundance of Christmas décor. Furthermore, there is one too many montages in this film, yet the editing is mostly standard. In the end, this production is just one of those assembly line PureFlix deals.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
With so many cooks in the crowded PureFlix plot kitchen, Christmas With a Capital C has a little bit of everything in it. For the most part, it contains every cheesy war-on-Christmas and fake persecution cliché you can possibly shove into one movie. The film mostly takes up arms in the religion freedom battle in a small town by using propaganda about the opposing side, but there are some surprising moments of sanity when some characters wisely suggest that maybe fighting for manger scenes on public property isn’t going to save people. However, this is quickly derailed again by cheesy and formulaic subplots, including juvenile romances, that are driven by obnoxious characters and manufactured dialogue. Unfortunately, any good that was meant in this film is covered up with madness.
Acting Quality (1.5 points)
This film has another one of those crazy PureFlix casts that is memorable for the wrong reasons, even though it doesn’t contain the usual suspects. Ted McGinley is his usual fake self, while Brad Stine takes the opportunity to adlib in over the top and unhinged ways. For some reason, Nancy Stafford allowed herself to be dragged into this nonsense, yet she is always a standout. Other cast members are also fine and make up for the loony moments that dominate the performances.
Conclusion
Why do we need to constantly roll out movies that ‘fight’ against ‘political correctness’ and try to ‘win back’ religious freedom? Since when does not being able to display a manger scene on government property persecution? What if a Muslim ideal was displayed on government property? One character points out the futility of fighting this fight in light of trying to spread the gospel to people who are hurting, and this contribution is no doubt the sanity of Andrea Nasfell. However, any good she wanted to accomplish in this movie is drowned out by the militant agenda of PureFlix. As long as Christian leaders continue to prioritize fighting for political power and influence over doing the real work of Christ, culture will continue to go in the opposite direction.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 