Pity so few have seen it with an open mind

The box office take of this film was less than 1/10th what something like ELF or many of the increasingly sardonic 'Christmas'(sic) movies have been. But this one is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The secular crowd will look for big name stars and shun anything sounding remotely Christian or offensive to the secular religion of Hollywood, even though the message of love and forgiveness is intended for everyone. Some Roman Catholics have gone into this movie with a chip on their shoulder, seeing every flaw or misunderstanding by Wall as intentional attack on the Catholic church. While Roman Catholics should all believe in the virgin birth, transmogrification, priest celibacy... in the real world practicing catholics don't have any stronger belief or understanding of sacraments than the creators of this film and many are much more obviously anti-catholic. Likewise I don't think I have to remind anyone that real priests have been far more flawed than either of those in this film.

Many protestants will take this imagined 'anti-catholocism' to heart and avoid the movie also as they understand the common central message that all Christians share and see any attack on brothers-in-Christ as an attack on Christianity.

Yes the movie is flawed, as are its characters as are all of us:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not of works, so that no one can boast.

It is sad that this thoughtful independent film was lost not by secular and atheist pressures so common in Hollywood. It faced a far more significant obstacle, misunderstanding within the Christian community. This is the kind of misunderstanding which has caused many wars even amongst those who share a belief in our salvation through Jesus Christ. There is hope that as we grow to more fully understand this central message we have in common, this movie will become a Christmas classic and displace many of the negative Christmas films that have take over this joyous season. After all, one of the last times someone set out to make a Christmas movie with a positive Christian message was in 1946 when Frank Capra made "It's a Wonderful Life." A box office flop for decades until someone recognized it for what it was, a diamond in the rough-- as is Noëlle.