Back to trending
Noel

Noel

Drama · 2004

With Christmas Eve just around the corner in bustling New York, five lonely and sad strangers find their lives inadvertently intersected.

Movie details

Noel

“Miracles are closer than you think.”

2004 Drama 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.1 / 10

11.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

28 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

29 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

With Christmas Eve just around the corner in bustling New York, five lonely and sad strangers find their lives inadvertently intersected.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Noel?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Breathe In

Breathe In

Drama · 2013

When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family's relationships and alters their lives forever.

Dad

Dad

Drama · 1989

A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.

Evelyn

Evelyn

Drama · 2002

Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.

Here

Here

Drama · 2024

An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.

Helen

Helen

Drama · 2009

On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.

Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole

Drama · 2010

Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.

Adopt a Highway

Adopt a Highway

Drama · 2019

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

Interiors

Interiors

Drama · 1978

When Eve, an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur, the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata, a successful writer; Joey, a woman crippled by indecision; and Flyn, a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman, his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate…

The Dead

The Dead

Drama · 1987

After a convivial holiday dinner party, things begin to unravel when a husband and wife address some prickly issues concerning their marriage.

The Starling

The Starling

Drama · 2021

A woman adjusting to life after a loss contends with a feisty bird that's taken over her garden — and a husband who's struggling to find a way forward.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Chazz Palminteri

Written by

David Hubbard

Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon

Rose Collins

Paul Walker

Paul Walker

Mike Riley

Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz

Nina Vasquez

Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin

Artie

Marcus Thomas

Marcus Thomas

Jules Calvert

Sonny Marinelli

Sonny Marinelli

Dennis

Daniel Sunjata

Daniel Sunjata

Marco

Court is in session

Put Noel on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.