Review: Nativity! (U)****
Everything about this quirky comedy/romance set in Coventry hints that it should be a grade-A disaster.
Far from it. In fact, this brilliant little fable is about as funny and heart-warming as any film has a right to be. What's more, it contains nothing that causes offence and everything that a family film should boast.
Former am-dram actor Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) is a primary school teacher in Coventry. Nursing a broken heart and trying to forget his fiance who fled to America, he is mortified to be landed with producing the school nativity play. What's more, he is partnered with an anarchic assistant called Mr Poppy (Marc Wootton, superb) who brings chaos and fun to the classroom. While Paul has never connected with the children, Poppy talks to them in their own language and on their own terms.
And when Paul agrees to stage the show he finds himself lying that his ex, now a Hollywood producer, will turn it into a film. As the lie mushrooms, Paul has to go west to persuade his one-time love to help out.
This is a film for mums and dads everywhere. It is constructed from all the elements that embroil parents, from inter-school rivalries to stroppy children and pushy teachers. Yet from start to finish Nativity! is an absolute joy.
A laugh-a-minute showcase for the Freeman/Wootton double-act, it also presents some phenomenally engaging child actors as the myriad little stars of the school play.
Writer/director Debbie Isitt has corralled everything that makes nativity plays both excruciating and instant nostalgia into her film.
The fact that she peppers her film with real camels and a death slide moment, using the top of ruined Coventry Cathedral, proves this is far from being just another average British comedy.
Think Sister Act crossed with The Commitments and School of Rock, and you have Nativity! It's a real fairytale, and how we need them, especially at Christmas.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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