Film Review: 'Community Theater Christmas'

For a small stage theater in Kansas, their latest original Christmas production has a lot riding on it. Having been selected to compete for a lucrative state grant, recently christened stage manager Lacey (Elizabeth Alan) is hoping their play will be good enough to win them the prize. After all, she'll need it if she wants the financially strapped theater to keep its doors open. Along with her eclectic acting troupe, Lacey is joined by her boyfriend Keith (Dan Pena) and her demanding mother Susan (Koni McCurdy) in her efforts to put together a good show.

But with their opening night mere hours away, it seems Lacey's production is falling apart on itself. Creative squabbles, troupe in-fights, and pre-show jitters seem to be conspiring to take both the show and the theater down. But when the curtain opens, will this ragtag group of misfit thespians pull together a surprise showstopper?

One of the things my time in college did for me was bring out an unexpected love for theater--particularly musicals. So now, with my first post-college Christmas approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to start this year's batch of Christmas reviews with a Tubi-found flick that's all about theater. Like the previously reviewed Thanksgiving With the Carters, Community Theater Christmas fashions itself as a holiday-themed dramedy. At the same time, there's some elements of Hallmark to be found here, what with the "Save the Beloved Family Business" main story and a subplot involving a romance. While Thanksgiving With the Carters collapsed under the strain of a dull story and dull performances, Community Theater Christmas's plot and cast--while not perfect--are consistently entertaining.

The film takes on a mockumentary style, which helps add to the frantic sense of chaos as the production begins to spiral. While there are moments toward the end when this found-footage-esque aesthetic stretches its believability, it comes late in the film and doesn't go far enough to pull you out of the movie. What might end up doing that, however, is the first act's pacing. The opening act focuses on setting up the theater's predicament and the cavalcade of problems that befall Lacey and company as they prepare for their high-stakes opening night. The cast behind the acting troupe is strong, with everyone bringing something to the table as a collection of eccentric thespians. But over time, the cavalcade begins to feel like padding until the play's opening night starts, with the once amusing material being extended to its breaking point. Luckily, once the play gets underway, the film's pacing regains its footing.

However, the play's beginning also introduces a new wrinkle in Community Theater Christmas: the mild tonal disconnect between the pre-play and post-play action. Pre-play, the movie's brand of humor lives up to its TV-14 rating. There's some bleeped-out swearing and references to drugs and sex, but nothing on par with the stuff you'd find in an R-rated Adam Sandler comedy. There's also a heavy focus on how disorganized and ill-prepared the troupe is for the performance, making you believe opening night is going to be a hilarious dumpster fire of a show. But instead, the play (while certainly not great) goes off with very few major incidents. On one hand, this makes for a sweet story about a motley crew banding together to put on a flimsy-but-earnest production. On the other, the first half of the movie seems to be promising something that the second half doesn't deliver. It's fun for what it is, but the transition could've been executed better to avoid feeling so bizarre.

(Plus, I'm certain more cynical viewers won't be as willing to accept that the troupe could pull together such a serviceable show after all the disasters that struck just before it began)

As I said earlier, the cast for the theater troupe performers is consistently enjoyable. There's a nice even mix here between over-the-top characters and those who are more down-to-earth with their quirks. It's an appropriate mash-up given how often stage productions (Broadway-caliber or otherwise) create a balance between flashy theatrics and a show's more grounded elements. Adam Weber and Marissa Pistone become highlights of the "Troupe Cast" as their polar opposite characters--confident Hunter and nutball Amy--become the stars of the play. Both are entertaining and oddly likable before and during the in-universe show, giving all the hamminess and intentional "bad acting" you could expect from an amateur production.

But there is some genuine sweetness to be found during Hunter and Amy's time on stage. Despite their archetypes of Pompous Actor and Neurotic Cloudcuckoolander seemingly being a recipe for on-stage disaster, both Hunter and Amy have moments of genuine good acting during the play. Amy's character Anastasia has a memorably heartfelt scene, one which Pistone delivers with touching emotion. Kevin and Chloe similarly thrive once they get on-stage, with Dan Pena and Adrienne Rose White having already been playing goofball Keith and snarky feminist Chloe with effective charm and wit. Other memorable "Troupe" players include Ashley Gianni's temperamental Karen, Annie Truex's even-weirder-than-Amy Angelica, and Carl Garcia's comically condescending playwright Lloyd. Notably weakly-written troupe characters are Sage and JoJay (both of whom are generic Small Name, Big Ego types) and Jesse (who, despite Jo Crandall's good performance, is given little room to shine or develop much of a personality outside of "horndog").

Moving away from the theater ensemble, Elizabeth Alan makes for a solid Only Sane Man protagonist as Lacey. Compared to the troupe of actors under her employ, Lacey certainly doesn't have the same memorability. But thanks to Alan's performance, Lacey is easy to root for as she has to deal with a difficult crew and her loudmouthed mother (played with love-to-hate gusto by Koni McCurdy) all while worrying about the theater's uncertain future. It's when it comes to her relationship with Keith that Lacey's character falters a bit. While Alan and Dan Pena give good performances on their own, there's never any chemistry between them to make their relationship or the conflict that threatens it compelling. Lacey and Keith spend most of the film apart, and when they do have scenes together, Lacey is either dismissive of Keith or outright hostile towards him. It not only puts a dent in Lacey's likability, but makes the film's attempt to give her and Keith's arc a heartwarming conclusion feel shallow and unconvincing. It still makes for a cute enough ending, but something entirely focused on the newly fire-forged friendship amongst the theater group would've been more appropriate and felt more authentic.

But in the end, Community Theater Christmas shares something in common with the stage production it focuses on. Both are works that, despite their fair amount of flaws, have an endearing sincerity to them and a cast that's always fun to watch in action. The bloated opening act may try your patience and the whole Lacey/Keith angle is a subplot that needed to either be reworked or replaced. But with its quirky atmosphere and characters, Community Theater Christmas makes for a fun watch that has a good chance of giving you a little bit of holiday spirit. And for those who share in my interest of theater, you're bound to enjoy how the film crafts itself as an affectionate satire of the art of stage acting.

Score: 6.5 out of 10 weed mints.