This is especially true of the Angelica character. Truex does a stunningly on-point rendition of this type of feral stage lunatic that will instantly be familiar to anyone in the theater (I think I may have actually been one back at Sarah Lawrence). Gianni is a diva’s diva, hitting all the perfect notes for some of the funniest sequences. When Gianni loses her s**t over the dinosaur, I lost mine as well. Seeing Garcia’s playwright agonize over his creation is hilarious, as his intense devotion to his vision is juxtaposed against the fact that it is all over a cornball town Christmas show.
“The pacing is nothing short of remarkable.”
The pacing is nothing short of remarkable. Right away, we are off to the races with high stakes and rapid developments. That’s right, Community Theater Christmas is as riveting as Die Hard and twice as Christmasy. This is what, in holiday film lingo, we call a “cookie burner,” as you will keep putting off checking the oven as you wait to see what happens next. I am not quite clear what it is about the concoction that makes it so infectious, as this film gets into your system like nicotine. Vitello makes the wonderful choice to have the majority of the movie be the actual show itself. This means a longer payoff for the expert build-up, which is a real treat. All of the running gags launch into the various fireworks they were building up to. There is also just the right amount of the true meaning of Christmas.
Just like Charlie Brown Christmas and the recent classic Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the Christian message is sewn into the core DNA of the picture. While all the wackiness is going on, this steady hum of the birth of Christ remains visible at all times. This allows the message to be felt instead of heard through over-preachiness. But don’t mistake this as only being for Christmas. Community Theater Christmas is funny enough for any time of the year. You will come for the theater folk satire, but you will stay with the circle of friends you make along the way. It was made a few years ago and definitely deserves further discovery by new audiences. Watch it now and watch it again at Christmas.
"…as riveting as Die Hard and twice as Christmasy."
