‘The Gospel of Christmas’ Review: When the Choir Outshines the Sermon
Tyler Perry has never been shy about carrying his church roots onto the screen, and ‘The Gospel of Christmas’ brings that pulpit to Netflix for the holidays. It is his third Christmas themed feature, and it landed on the platform on November 11. Perry wrote and directed it himself, handing the lead to R&B singer Tank as Isaac, a struggling pastor who inherits his family’s church in a rough New York neighborhood.
The setup is simple and familiar. Isaac has until Christmas to rescue the building from foreclosure while keeping his family and his faith from cracking under the strain. His wife Rebecca, played by Fantasia Barrino Taylor, is the believer who holds the household together, while grief over his father and his young son’s silence leave Isaac unable to pray with any conviction. A sinister adversary circles the edges, and the whole thing is built from very recognizable parts.
This is where the film started to lose me. The script announces its themes loudly and rarely lets a scene breathe, so characters end up sounding like mouthpieces instead of people. Evil is introduced with a sneer and defeated with barely any resistance, which drains the tension from a story that should be a real tug of war between doubt and belief.
The performances are just as uneven. Some cast members play every beat at full volume, and a few emotional moments tip into unintentional comedy, which undercuts the sincerity Perry is plainly reaching for. At 84 minutes the movie moves briskly, but speed doesn’t hide how thin the dramatic scaffolding really is.
And yet the music is a genuine blessing. Kirk Franklin produced the songs, and the supporting cast reads like a gospel hall of fame, with CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, Shirley Caesar, The Clark Sisters, Smokie Norful, Fred Hammond and Ann Nesby all turning up. These artists aren’t just wandering through for cameos, they are given actual roles, and whenever the choir swells the film finally feels alive.
Fantasia is the other major reason to stay seated. She gives Rebecca real warmth and a believable steel, and each time she steps toward a microphone the whole room seems to shift. Tank commits completely to Isaac’s crisis, even when the writing hands him lines that lean too hard on the message.
I also enjoyed the biblical names scattered through the cast, from Isaac and Rebecca to Jacob, Esau, Abraham and Sarah. It is a neat touch that gives a family story a layer of scripture, even if the film never does much more with it. The heart of the movie is clearly in the right place, pulling Christmas away from the wrapping paper and back toward faith and community.
Weighing it all up, I left entertained by the singing and frustrated by nearly everything built around it. This is a sincere, warm and flawed holiday drama that works best as a concert with a story attached. My score is 5.5 out of 10.
Did the music win you over or did the story lose you, so tell us in the comments whether you agree with my verdict on ‘The Gospel of Christmas’.
