I have finally found MY must-see Christmas film every December! "A New York Christmas Wedding" opens with a bright, shining, Manhattan and from there hits every cliche you could ask of a sentimental film with a twist! Based on "Trust your heart. Be Brave" and "You really shouldn't underestimate the power of love around Christmas" how can one go wrong?


How about a Gay Guardian Angel?? How about a woman having to decide between the life she is currently living or living the life she would have had if she had made a different decision 20 years earlier? Being a Christmas movie there is, of course, a love story but this film has two of them both revolving around the same woman.


Otaja Abit, who directed the film, also wrote the story and the screenplay not to mention playing one of the leads and as in most cases, not all, I find someone who takes on too much in one film usually is lacking in one of the jobs where someone else could have picked up the slack and that happens with the story here. There are too many holes in the story which at times makes it cheesy but still holds your attention.


In spite of that, it very quickly has become one of MY best 10 love stories, reminding me of 'they don't make movies like that anymore' of the 1950s! A happy ending? Of course, it is a Christmas story!

I must add that at about the 50-minute point, Chris Noth--yes, that Chris Noth also known as Mister Big--as Father Kelly, gives a sermon that most "christians' probably will never watch because of what comes before but Christians will listen, understand and might even open their hearts to what he says.


There is suspense, over the top romance, a feel-good theme, warmth, don't forget that Gay Guardian Angel and, being a Christmas movie, has a happy ending. There are twist and turns and though not a perfect movie is brings something new to the Christmas holiday library of movies.


Abit told the New York Post that 'it is gritty, urban, with black and Latino leads and a real romance between two women'. No, that is not a spoiler as the film opens in 1999 but takes place in 2019.


"A New York Christmas Wedding" is a mix of Hallmark, Lifetime and Netflix movies and I wasn't expecting much but I know every Christmas from now on I will spend an hour and twenty-nine minutes watching a movie that I fell in love with Christmas 2020!