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3 Reasons ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Is a New Holiday Classic

  • Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
  • Updated Nov 07, 2024
3 Reasons ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Is a New Holiday Classic

Grace is a selfless, hard-working mother with a love of family and a passion for her small community. She's also a mom with a stubborn streak. So when the stodgy director of the local Christmas pageant suffers an injury and needs a replacement, Grace volunteers to step in --- simply so she can outdo a local snobbish mom. 

But Grace quickly realizes she might have taken on more than she can handle.

For starters, the pageant is marking its 75th anniversary, bringing an added level of scrutiny this year. Then there are the tradition-focused townspeople, who are fiercely protective and adamant that not a single detail be altered.

To make matters worse, the casting takes an unexpected twist when the Herdman children—six notorious troublemakers who never set foot in church—show up and audition for all the lead roles, including Mary and Joseph. The catch? They've intimidated the other kids into backing off from the parts.

Grace reluctantly awards the roles to the Herdmans, praying for the best while hoping the gospel-centric story will transform their hearts. The townspeople, though, aren't so forgiving. They want the Herdmans booted from the play, warning it will be the worst Christmas pageant -- ever -- if the Herdmans remain.

What will Grace do?

The new faith-based movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (PG) follows the story of Grace (Judy Greer) and the Herdmans, who bring chaos to the project and a few surprises.

It's one of the best family movies of the year and has all the makings of a Christmas classic. Here are three reasons why this film will be your new favorite Christmas classic.

Photo Credit: ©Allen Fraser/Lionsgate

  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’

    1. It Has the Perfect Balance of Humor and Heart

    The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was directed by Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen) and is based on a popular children's book of the same name by the late Barbara Robinson, whose hilarious and inspiring story told of a group of unruly children who are feared by their peers and avoided by the townspeople. (Robinson wrote two more in the series: The Best School Year Ever and The Best Halloween Ever.)

    The film captures the book's humor perfectly, opening with a sequence that brings to mind the mischievous charm and nostalgic feel of such classics as Home Alone (1990) and A Christmas Story (1983). The narrator (Laura Graham of Gilmore Girls) declares that the Herdmans were "absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world." They lied, she says. They stole. They smoked cigars! They were so awful, she says, "you could hardly believe they were real." No one knows how they got this way. One rumor, the narrator says, is their parents gave up and ran away. 

    We see the Herdmans in action: tossing snowballs, putting classmates in headlocks, stealing money, and doing, well, whatever they wish. The sequence plays like a charming tall tale—a story a child might recount with a blend of truth and wild exaggeration, making it all the more hilarious to hear.

    It's a film filled with humor, even as it brims with heart and faith.

    Jenkins told Crosswalk the original story is "just naturally funny and fun."

    "It's a broad family Christmas comedy," Jenkins told Crosswalk. "It's a book that's been in public schools for 50 years. It's been performed as a play all over the world."

    It was produced by Kingdom Story Company, the same studio that made I Can Only Imagine and Jesus Revolution.

    Photo Credit: ©Allen Fraser/Lionsgate

  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

    2. It Has Memorable Characters Who Steal Your Heart

    You never dislike the Herdmans. Instead, you find yourself laughing at their antics while rooting for their redemption.

    Gladys (Kynlee Heiman) is the tiniest one in the bunch, the type of adorable-looking child who will kick you in the shin with a smile on her face. Her four older brothers -- Claude, Leroy, Ollie, and Ralph -- are just as mischievous, but none of them can match Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), the oldest sibling and the leader of the bunch. 

    We see Imogene in action early in the movie as she drags her siblings to church, lured by the promise of free cake, candy, ice cream, and Kool-Aid. The Herdmans then get lured to Sunday School, where they learn of the Christmas play and the upcoming tryouts. 

    Imogene may not know much about Mary, but she knows she loves being the center of attention, so she boldly claims the role for herself. She then warns the previous actress to step aside, threatening to shove a flower down her ear if she refuses. "It'll sprout there and grow and grow," she promises with menacing delight.

    We never see the Herdmans' parents, but we do see their run-down house when Grace's husband, Bob (Pete Holmes), knocks on the door with a Christmas ham in hand. Imogene answers.

    "Is your mom home?" he asks

    "Not when the sun's up," Imogene responds. 

    That's when we learn that the Herdman children have, essentially, raised themselves. 

    The young cast, led by Beatrice Schneider as Imogene, steal the show. 

    Photo Credit: ©Allen Fraser/Lionsgate

  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

    3. It Reminds Us of the Reason for the Season

    The self-righteous members of Grace's church are determined to remove the Herdmans from the pageant, while the Herdmans' classmates insist they're too "dirty" and unruly to be part of it.

    Grace, however, is steadfast in her determination to let the Herdmans stay.

    After all, she suggests, if the pageant's primary message is the love of Jesus, why would we exclude anyone? 

    "The whole point of the story," she tells her daughter, is that "Jesus was born as much for the Herdmans as He was for us."

    The Herdmans live only a few blocks from church. And yet, they know little about the story of Christ. Listening to the nativity story for the first time, they ask questions only a child would pose: Who are the shepherds? Where did they come from? What's an inn? What's a manger? They hang on to every word as Grace reads the biblical account- so much so that Imogene snaps to the other kids. "Will you shut up! I want to hear it."

    In the film's final scenes, we see the Herdmans come to understand the story of Christmas in their own wonderfully unique way.

    The Best Christmas Pageant Ever urges us to reach out to the less fortunate, welcome those who don't quite fit in, and always lead with love. It simultaneously shows us what the church should look like and what it shouldn't. Filled with lessons about hope, grace, transformation, and redemption, it's a story that resonates well beyond the Christmas season.

    Rated PG for thematic material and brief underage smoking. Coarse language: OMG (2), both said by Imogene.

    Entertainment rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

    Family-friendly rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

    Photo Credit: ©Allen Fraser/Lionsgate

    Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.