The Nativity Story

Given Mel Gibson’s success with The Passion of The Christ, it was only a matter of time before they turned another beloved Bible story into a major motion picture. I can just see the studio executives sitting around the table going “C’mon those Christians eat this stuff up, we’ll make a killing.” I can kinda see their logic, there were no good movies coming out and no new ideas for movies were being presented. Christians were guaranteed to see this movie (although I am sure that is not the only reason that it was made) to make up for falling movie profits. So New Line Cinemas came out with The Nativity Story in 2006. This was to be the classic story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
I must say I was rather excited to see this movie because of how often I had heard and read this story. However, as I began to watch the movie my excitement rapidly started to a nosedive. I did not believe any of the actors in the film. Keisha Castle Hughes presented us with a stoic and forgettable Mary. She played her not as brave or weak but just as not showing emotion. Oscar Isaac gave us a forgettable Joseph. Maybe they met on set and decided to be forgettable together. The rest of the actors were just bleh. I could see that they were trying to make this movie believable but I wanted to see the emotion, not the effort behind it (to paraphrase Center Stage). Given that this was such a classic story, I had high expectations for the acting, but I was sorely disappointed. In the previews it looked as though Mary’s parents were ashamed of their daughter’s pregnancy and confronted her about it. In the movie it just seemed like any old fight. I would expect more from people acting as parents whose unmarried daughter became pregnant at a young age.
Another problem I had with the movie were the three wise men. They served as the comic relief for the movie. While I have no problem with interjecting comic relief in to a drama, it wasn’t even that good! They weren’t that comical.
Overall, I was just sorely disappointed in the movie. The acting could have been better or at least less robotic and I think the dialogue could have been written better. This movie is definitely not up there with my favorite Christmas movies, if you are going to tell one of the oldest and widest known stories in the world, at least put some effort into it. Bad job New Line, you get a -14.