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A Christmas Wedding

Name: A Christmas Wedding
Item: A Christmas Wedding
Rating: 2
Author: Tracy Moore

Movie review by

Tracy Moore, Common Sense Media

Common Sense says

age 13+

(i)

Heavy dialogue, mature themes in family-conflict drama.

NR
2013
80 minutes

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X of Y

A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Positive Messages

The importance of talking honestly with family, forgiveness, accountability for one's own feelings and behaviors, working it out, valuing sibling relationships, and the importance of family,

Positive Role Models & Representations

Characters are typically well meaning but flawed and strive to work through their differences and mistakes. Parents admit they neglected their daughter as a child. A woman hits on her sister's fiancé. Two sisters have an open rivalry. A woman tells the story of stealing a Gucci bag as a teenager. Two men rank women as if they're items on a McDonald's menu. A sister admits to deliberately trying to wreck her sister's wedding out of jealousy.

Violence

Sex

A woman aggressively hits on a man, chasing him and kissing him against his will. A man and woman kiss.

Language

"Damn."

Consumerism

Minor discussions of significant brands and some obvious brand-name items, such as Gucci bags, featured prominently.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that A Christmas Wedding is a televised play that is heavy on dialogue about a future wedding in a small-town family. There's a lot of bickering, discussions of money, some innuendo, and much talk about sibling rivalry, jealousy, and hurt feelings. Though there's nothing particularly risqué about it other than one scene where a woman aggressively kisses and chases her sister's fiancé, the lack of action, minimal plot, and mature themes make this best for teens.

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What's the story?

Newly engaged Jules (Cinderella Graham) and John (Malik Barnhardt) return home to visit Jules' family, but when the rest of the siblings show up, including older sister Sharon (Vivica A. Fox), everyone gets more than they bargained for. Old wounds, jealous feelings, and sibling rivalry all resurface, and the young couple's desire to marry is suddenly tested.

Is it any good?

A CHRISTMAS WEDDING is a televised play, and it suffers from it. There are long, dialogue-heavy scenes with very little action, muffled sound when characters move away from centralized microphones, and blackouts and applause between every scene. As such, it's a difficult film to follow, and the heavy themes of family dysfunction make it a no-go for very young kids and iffy for teens, whose attention spans are likely to be tested here. There are some solid messages about working through conflict, being accountable for your actions, and forgiveness, but it's a long 80 minutes to glean those messages given this format.

Talk to your kids about ...

Families can talk about sibling rivalry. Do you have siblings? If so, do you ever feel competitive toward them? Why? What do you do about it?
Do you think the film portrays small-town families accurately? What are their major concerns in life? How do they deal with them?
How does your family work through conflict? How is it different or similar to the family in the film? Do they solve their problems realistically? Why, or why not?