It's Just Movies

— by RACHEL COYNE —

My first thought after watching the trailer for “Nativity!” was, “It’s sort of like a British ‘Waiting for Guffman.’” And that is not a bad thing.

Proof that absolutely anything can be turned into a competition, “Nativity!” tells the story of elementary school teacher Mr. Maddens, who wants to best his long-standing rival by having his students put on a better nativity play. He’s so determined to “win” that he invents a story that a Hollywood producer will be attending the show in order to make a movie version of his play — a story that their entire sleepy English town takes as the gospel truth and goes a little crazy over. As it gets closer to opening night, the production gets larger and louder, and the town is bursting with Hollywood hype, so how is Mr. Maddens going to tell them he made it all up?

“Nativity!” looks like it could be a fun quirky British comedy, and I’m glad to see it starring a couple of talented British TV actors (Martin Freeman from “The Office” and Ashley Jensen from “Extras” — who yes, is actually Scottish, but the show was British, so don’t start with me). I just hope this cast of misfits has a slightly happier ending than the “Waiting for Guffman” crew did.

“Nativity!” opened in the UK on Nov. 27 and currently has no plans for a U.S. release. Which makes baby Jesus very sad.

Source: Trailer Addict