NOEL

NOEL has a few warm, touching moments and makes some good moral points about jealousy, love, and the need to value your own life. But the movie quickly unravels. Its several storylines skip from one troubled person to another without forming a cohesive whole.

The larger problem is its spiritual confusion. Reincarnation, spiritism, angels, Christmas references, and other non-Christian elements create a worldview that does not point viewers toward faith in Jesus Christ. The content also includes strong language, sexual material, violence, drinking, smoking, and other concerns.

The practical answer is simple: skip NOEL and choose a more coherent Christmas film with a healthier spiritual foundation.

Set in New York City on Christmas Eve, NOEL follows five troubled individuals whose lives intersect. Mike is a policeman whose jealousy is damaging his relationship with his fiancée, Nina. Artie’s tragic history shows Mike where jealousy can lead, while Rose, a lifelong caretaker, faces a supernatural encounter that challenges her to reconsider how she is living.

Two stars means NOEL has a handful of warm, touching moments but does not hold together as a film. Its main weakness is the script. The movie jumps between several stories without a cohesive whole, quickly becoming confusing and unraveling.

The performances come from a notable cast, but the review finds the screenplay so poor that it is surprising these actors signed on. The film eventually makes some good moral points, including that love is the greatest gift, but those moments cannot overcome the movie’s structural problems.

NOEL presents an eclectic spiritual mixture rather than a clear Christian vision. It includes reincarnation, spiritism, angels, Christmas references, and other non-Christian elements. Its supernatural ideas are treated positively, while faith in Jesus Christ has little to do with the story.

The film does offer some moral elements. Mike is confronted with the destructive consequences of jealousy. Rose learns to appreciate herself and focus less exclusively on caring for her catatonic mother. The ending also points toward love as the greatest gift. Those observations have moral value, but they are surrounded by a worldview that blends Christian associations with pagan and occult ideas.

The movie’s Christmas setting therefore does not make it a Christian Christmas film. Scripture gives a more definite answer about the greatest gift: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).

NOEL has a few tender moments and some worthwhile moral observations, but its confused script and mixed spiritual message outweigh them. With strong content and little connection to faith in Jesus Christ, our answer is SKIP IT. For a better family choice, see.