This is almost a musical, in several cases characters break out in song where we would normally expect dialog. But it isn't excessive and it works well.
I saw this on DVD, now I wish I had seen it during the Christmas season for its message. A teenage boy in Baltimore with an unavailable dad and a single mom unable to pay the bills. So he is sent to stay with his grandparents in New York (Harlem). His grandfather happens to be a charismatic preacher, but with issues of his own.
I became interested in seeing this for the superb cast, mostly actors I have seen and enjoyed in a number of roles. Forest Whitaker is the grandfather, Reverend Cornell Cobbs. His prize possession is a gold pocket watch with an inscription, a gift from MLK. The grandmother is Angela Bassett as Aretha Cobbs.
But my favorite is Jennifer Hudson as the single mom, pregnant at 15. Naima is working at a couple of jobs but needs to come up with $5000 to avoid eviction, and has no way to get it legally. Her acting is spot-on and her singing superb as always.
The 15-yr-old son is played well by 16-yr-old Jacob Latimore as Langston. The movie's title refers to a Christmastime Black Nativity presentation at grandpa's church. The ending and reconciliations work a bit too easily at the end, but the message of family and forgiveness is clear.
Good movie, better then its IMDb rating (4.0 right now) would indicate. But it has a religious theme so people who object to that will not like it.
SPOILERS: When Naimi became pregnant she became a family outcast, and the Reverend paid the dad $5000 to agree to never see her or the baby again. All this alienation ended up with Naimi in Baltimore and not speaking to her parents. At the end of the movie the Reverend confessed his "sin" to the whole congregation and his family, they forgave each other.
I saw this on DVD, now I wish I had seen it during the Christmas season for its message. A teenage boy in Baltimore with an unavailable dad and a single mom unable to pay the bills. So he is sent to stay with his grandparents in New York (Harlem). His grandfather happens to be a charismatic preacher, but with issues of his own.
I became interested in seeing this for the superb cast, mostly actors I have seen and enjoyed in a number of roles. Forest Whitaker is the grandfather, Reverend Cornell Cobbs. His prize possession is a gold pocket watch with an inscription, a gift from MLK. The grandmother is Angela Bassett as Aretha Cobbs.
But my favorite is Jennifer Hudson as the single mom, pregnant at 15. Naima is working at a couple of jobs but needs to come up with $5000 to avoid eviction, and has no way to get it legally. Her acting is spot-on and her singing superb as always.
The 15-yr-old son is played well by 16-yr-old Jacob Latimore as Langston. The movie's title refers to a Christmastime Black Nativity presentation at grandpa's church. The ending and reconciliations work a bit too easily at the end, but the message of family and forgiveness is clear.
Good movie, better then its IMDb rating (4.0 right now) would indicate. But it has a religious theme so people who object to that will not like it.
SPOILERS: When Naimi became pregnant she became a family outcast, and the Reverend paid the dad $5000 to agree to never see her or the baby again. All this alienation ended up with Naimi in Baltimore and not speaking to her parents. At the end of the movie the Reverend confessed his "sin" to the whole congregation and his family, they forgave each other.