The all-star cast do their best, but the individual stories are so truncated that they can't do much in the way of giving their characters real emotional depth.
Comment
11/12/04
Noel (2004)
26
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:9
Rotten:25
Average Rating:4.3/10
Theatrical Release:Nov 12, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: A first-rate cast comes together for this collection of intertwining tales of lonely New Yorkers reaching out to each other on Christmas Eve. Susan Sarandon plays Rose, a widowed editor who spends... [More]
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Susan Sarandon, Alan Arkin, Paul Walker
Director: Chazz Palminteri
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Reviews for Noel
Palminteri draws some very good performances from his cast -- only to pile on a lot of shameless heart-tugging on top of a contrived script about five New Yorkers facing Christmas Eve alone.
11/12/04
Santa discontinued that whole coal-in-the-stocking thing a while back. Now, he brings movies like this one when you're bad.
11/12/04
The mawkishness meter is turned up full blast by the time Williams, wearing the hangdog expression he saves for maudlin dramas, shows up out of nowhere as a former priest to save an unhappy Sarandon from jumping into the East River.
11/12/04
Despite the impressive cast, acting quality isn't especially high.
11/12/04
Except for die-hard students of extremely bad movies, Noel isn't worth seeing.
11/12/04
Top CriticI can be sentimental under the right circumstances, but the movie is such a calculating tearjerker that it played like a challenge to me.
11/12/04
Top CriticLike way too many holiday films, it is shameless in its desperate grab at the heartstrings. What it latches onto firmly instead is the gag reflex, making you long for a dose of Maalox or at least another viewing of Bad Santa.
11/12/04
Desperate for warm and fuzzy holiday feelings, Noel is depressing and bland.
11/12/04
[A] swirl of contrived Christmas Eve ‘magic’ that’s forced and mostly phony and never quite hits the right notes...
11/12/04
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11/11/04
Sentimental and sappy enough to keep a maple syrup factory busy all year long, but isn’t that the point of Christmas movies anyway?
11/11/04
Utterly devoid of genuine emotion or warmth, Noel, which marks the directorial debut of actor Chazz Palminteri, is too sappy for words.
11/11/04
Though clearly meant as a heartwarmer in the long-standing holiday tradition, Chazz Palminteri's film comes off as strange and sour.
11/11/04
Top CriticBoasts just enough good acting to make up for the treacle.
11/11/04
Santa Claus's bag couldn't hold as many clichés as the screenplay dishes out.
11/11/04
A handful of competent performances can't keep Noel from pulling its audience through a bleak, cheerless hour and a half.
11/11/04
Most of the redemptive notes ring false, as does the mythical Manhattan, where the snow is just too clean and everybody lives around the corner.
11/09/04
Noel manages to get considerable mileage out of a series of unpredictable and nutty spiritual flights of fancy.
10/29/04
[Director Chazz] Palminteri seems to have accepted the heavy-handed nature of the screenplay and embraced it whole-heartedly.
10/06/04
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