Holiday Harmony
It's nineteen days till Christmas and accountant Peter Brockman (Jason Gedrick - Kings of South Beach) is his usual workaholic self much to the annoyance of his fiancee who after he shows up late again for a date decides enough is enough and calls it off. It leads Peter to a bar where he meets Bob (Tyrone Benskin), a piano player who invites him home to meet his family which much to Peter's surprise is a shelter run by Sister Agatha (Rhea Perlman - A Tale of Two Bunnies) for the homeless. Feeling a need to do something more than donate money he comes up with the idea of forming a Christmas choir from the homeless guys in order for the men to try and earn some extra money in the lead up to Christmas.
Indulge me for a second as I ramble but I need to explain my journey with "The Christmas Choir". When I sat down to watch it I had read that it was about a workaholic young man dumped by his girlfriend for unsurprisingly always working and ends up helping a group of homeless men at a shelter form a choir. And as such as "The Christmas Choir" started I was presented by the handsome Jason Gedrick in a typical workaholic scene as he runs late to meet his girlfriend. I was pretty sure I knew exactly how this Christmas movie was going to play out with Gedrick's character learning an important lesson about what is important in life.
But then two things happened; firstly I discovered that "The Christmas Choir" is in fact based upon a true story and secondly it is much more than just about a workaholic young man with his priorities screwed up. This movie has a much bigger scope as it delivers so many lessons from not judging people on first impressions, taking second chances, forgiveness and redemption. It has real heart as it steps away from what those initial expectations are and works its way through these other elements. To put it simply "The Christmas Choir" is one of the most heart warming and touching Christmas movies I have watched in a few years with a lot of depth squeezed in to just 90 minutes which includes relationships with parents and a lot more.
That doesn't mean it doesn't have some typical Christmassy aspects, there is a romantic subplot surrounding Peter and Marilyn who he meets at the subway and it has just the right amount of humour to make this story both entertaining and heart warming. And that is the thing about "The Christmas Choir" it is one seriously heart warming movie which despite its low budget look and lack of big stars still works.
What this all boils down to is that "The Christmas Choir" may look on paper like a very typical Christmas movie but in truth there is a lot more to it and beneath the low budget look it has amazing warmth and tells a wonderful true story.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
