I still never know whether to label these streaming
releases as Movie Reactions or Delayed Reactions. I'm sticking with Delayed for
Noelle, simply because I don't have a ton to say about it.
This is an Anna Kendrick movie for Anna Kendrick
fans. She's bubbly and nice, with just a hint of sarcasm. She isn't really
taking the movie seriously, but no one wants the super-earnest version of this
movie anyway. She plays off Shirley MacLaine, Bill Hader, and Kingsley Ben-Adir
well. No one is using their fast ball for this, and that's fine. Billy Eichner
is a little more subdued than I expected. This needed two more Billy Eichner
yells than it had.
This does play more like a nicely produced TV movie
than a theatrical feature. In 1998-speak this plays more like a Wonderful World
of Disney Sunday night movie on ABC than a Thanksgiving release on 2300
screens. Disney's had this movie in the can since January 2018, so it's nice
that they had Disney+ as an option rather than trying to sneak it into
theaters.
Noelle is
incredibly charming. It's cheesy and derivative. It's not an indispensable
addition to any Christmas movie catalog, but it's a welcome addition to mine.
I'll happily watch Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader in whatever stupid movie they
want to make. I welcome the chance to smile politely at all the inoffensive
jokes. I'm all for the cutesy reindeer hijinks. I'm a sap for real Christmas
movies, and I liked this.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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