The Noel Diary Movie Review: The Story Is Dealt with In a Pleasant and Non-Pathetic Way
Cast: Justin Hartley, Barrett Doss, James Remar, Bonnie Bedelia
Director: Charles Shyer
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)
Christmas romance movies are pretty much all the same, right? Wrong. In some mysterious way that escapes even me, The Noel Diary is the Christmas romance movie that’s done it. I’ll explain why (more or less), but let’s go in order. The film is directed by Charles Shyer and produced by Margret H. Huddleston, Stephanie Slack and Ridoyanul Hoq. The screenwriters are Rebecca Connor, David Golden, Charles Shyer and Richard Paul Evans. The story is taken from Evans’ novel entitled The Noel diary. It’s available on Netflix starting November 24, 2022, and, at least as far as the Christmas romance movie genre is concerned, which is extremely specific but also extremely overused, The Noel Diary deserves a place in the Netflix Top Ten.
Continue Netflix’s inexorable rush towards Christmas with a new romantic comedy set during the holiday season. Based on the Richard Paul Evans novel of the same name, the film directed by Charles Shyer stars Justin Hartley (Smallville, This Is Us) in the title role, joined by actress and singer Barrett Doss (Station 19). As we will see in our review of The Noel Diary, the film represents for the two protagonists a journey to (re)discovery of their past, necessary to have a better future.
The Noel Diary Movie Review: The Story
Jake Turner (Justin Hartley) is a charming writer of international renown engaged in the promotion of his latest mystery book, The Last Midnight. Despite telling people about being engaged, the man lives alone, with a dog named Eva as his only company and apparently without any emotional or family ties. One afternoon, returned from the last signing, Jake receives an unexpected phone call: a lawyer, executor of his mother’s will, informs her of the latter’s death, asking him to return to Bridgeport to sign some documents for her succession. Jake, who hadn’t had contact with his mother for a long time, immediately leaves for his hometown, thinking of quickly arranging the property and furniture bequeathed to him and returning immediately.
But once he arrives in the small town of Connecticut and in the house where he grew up, the memories begin to surface again, also thanks to the meeting with the elderly and beloved neighbor Elly (Bonnie Bedelia). This unplanned trip also brings with it a surprise: in fact, a young woman named Rachel (Barrett Doss) shows up at the door, looking for her biological mother who, thirty years earlier, worked as a babysitter for the Turner family. Rachel is a girl in search of certainties. Young and ambitious, she is determined to find her biological mother and marry her longtime boyfriend. She hates insecurity, she prefers mediocre certainty to the risk that could lead to happiness. The search for her takes her (zan zan) right into the house that once belonged to Jake’s mother. What will happen? We all get it, but it’s still worth watching.
The Noel Diary Movie Review and Analysis
The Noel Diary is the story of a journey. Not a physical journey, if we exclude the few kilometers by a car that the two protagonists of the film travel, but a journey through memories and in search of one’s past. Rachel, adopted when she was little, knows nothing of her childhood, except that her biological mother – of whom she also ignores her name – worked as a babysitter at the age of 17 in the Turner family. This little information about her led her to wonder throughout her life about the reason for her abandonment and whether the parents who had given her up for adoption had ever loved her. Jake, on the other hand, knows his past well, a past from which he chose to flee when he was only seventeen. mother’s depression the death of his brother and the apparent abandonment of his father prompted the man to sever all ties with his hometown for over thirty years.
The sudden disappearance of Jake’s mother is the thread that will unite two strangers on a path towards acceptance of a past that has not been kind to them but with which they can still make peace. Although the events could be set at any time of the year, without any outcome on the plot, we are still faced with a Christmas movie. Although, we have to warn you, if you’re craving that typical holiday atmosphere, amidst glittering decorations, Christmas carols and gingerbread cookies, this may not be the film for you. No gifts or sumptuous family dinners in this film directed by Charles Shyer but two distinct stories of loneliness that end up meeting during the brightest time of the year.
However, all the stereotypes that have to do with good feelings, the suspension of disbelief and that pinch of magic that allows miracles to happen during the Natele period remain intact. The protagonist of the film is Justin Hartley, an American actor who surely many of you will have recognized for his roles in successful TV series such as Smallville, This Is Us and Revenge. His performance, quite heartfelt and believable, revives the fortunes of an otherwise somewhat weak plot. The partnership with co-star Barrett Doss then represents the real strength of The Noel Diary: the two have perfect chemistry on the screen that alone is worth watching the film.
Another thing that I found positive is that the two protagonists, despite coming from very different families and despite having an opposite approach to life (and connecting in an incredibly fast way, it is also true that when you feel something you just feel it before to become aware of it) organically approach each other, and do not change their lives from one day to the next. They resist, as is human to do. They slowly blossom towards each other and being together in an experience of great family discovery leads them to feel close. Is it full of clichés? Of course. Is that a lot predictable? Also. Yet it works.
The Noel Diary Movie Review: The Last Words
The Noel Diary, unlike many films of the same genre, works. There is chemistry between the actors, and the story is dealt with in a pleasant and non-pathetic way. The Noel Diary is not the Christmas film for you if you are looking for the classic warm atmosphere of the holidays, even if it keeps intact those stereotypes that have to do with good feelings and suspension of disbelief. At the heart of the film, we find the journey of the two protagonists to (re)discover their past while trying to build a better future for themselves. Good performance and the chemistry of the two interpreters thus revive a plot that is a bit weak and improbable although perfect for a disengaged vision.
