"A Family Reunion Christmas" is exactly what the title says, namely a Christmas special featuring the cast and characters of the American series "Family Reunion" and this is a Netflix Original. It runs for slightly under half an hour and was directed by Robbie Countryman, who also worked on a few episodes of said show. Now I cannot say too much about the cast here because I simply don't know them. I did come across Emmy winner Loretta Devine somewhere, at least I believe I did, and Telma Hopkins in her 70s now I know from Family Matters back in the day. Kinda interesting to see her now again. Speaking of Family Matters, sometimes this show here reminded me a bit of that one comedy-wise. Now I am not sure if it is because the cast is also all-Black here (besides, why do you say somebody is Black if only one parent is Black? they also could be considered White by simple mathematics and yes I do capitalize that word too like it or not), but it was a bit like a spiced-up version of Family Matters with some influence by more recent television shows like Modern Family. All in all, it was working well. I also didn't mind the laugh tracks, even if, in general, I don't think they are essential to comedy shows.
As for the story, it is a collection of several sub-plots. We have a bunch of elderly ladies who are about to perform just like they did when they were young and were together in a band. Then we have the story of two kids learning about the real meaning of Christmas and humbleness when they are told to live for one night as if they were homeless. Then we have younger kids doubting the existence of Santa. And in-between all that, we have a lot of Christmas preparations going on and also a great deal of Christmas music, which I found really nice because it reminded me of some great tunes. Now as for the beginning, I was not too impressed. The first scene with everybody in one room was sub-par and sadly the film also closes on that note honestly with the boy all of a sudden believing in Santa again (now that was too much goo! and also the somewhat supernatural creature, who brought them the presents, was not a welcome inclusion for me). But everything in-between these parts was good, sometimes even close to great. The scene with the homeless woman was touching, but come on, why did the kids really take her gloves and did not tell her what was going on. Kinda cruel and also goes against the idea of them having understood the purpose of it all. Still the apple reference was good, how they shared the gloves was nice as well from the compassion perspective. I mean, as for the other plots, yeah.. the old ladies were sometimes not too easy to enjoy, but they brought a pretty nice Three Stooges reference and the "who's Beyoncé" idea wasn't too bad either. So all good overall. It was not good enough to make me want to check out the show anytime soon (this aired at the end of season 1 I believe, it is still a really new program), but maybe at some point I will because here and there this one put a smile on my lips and it also must be said this was so Christmas-focused really that there is no sense in watching it any other time of the year (except if you really really love the show). Thumbs-up. Go check it out.
As for the story, it is a collection of several sub-plots. We have a bunch of elderly ladies who are about to perform just like they did when they were young and were together in a band. Then we have the story of two kids learning about the real meaning of Christmas and humbleness when they are told to live for one night as if they were homeless. Then we have younger kids doubting the existence of Santa. And in-between all that, we have a lot of Christmas preparations going on and also a great deal of Christmas music, which I found really nice because it reminded me of some great tunes. Now as for the beginning, I was not too impressed. The first scene with everybody in one room was sub-par and sadly the film also closes on that note honestly with the boy all of a sudden believing in Santa again (now that was too much goo! and also the somewhat supernatural creature, who brought them the presents, was not a welcome inclusion for me). But everything in-between these parts was good, sometimes even close to great. The scene with the homeless woman was touching, but come on, why did the kids really take her gloves and did not tell her what was going on. Kinda cruel and also goes against the idea of them having understood the purpose of it all. Still the apple reference was good, how they shared the gloves was nice as well from the compassion perspective. I mean, as for the other plots, yeah.. the old ladies were sometimes not too easy to enjoy, but they brought a pretty nice Three Stooges reference and the "who's Beyoncé" idea wasn't too bad either. So all good overall. It was not good enough to make me want to check out the show anytime soon (this aired at the end of season 1 I believe, it is still a really new program), but maybe at some point I will because here and there this one put a smile on my lips and it also must be said this was so Christmas-focused really that there is no sense in watching it any other time of the year (except if you really really love the show). Thumbs-up. Go check it out.
