It's a Wonderful Life
Joey

Review by Joey Patron

It's a Wonderful Life 1946

★★★★★

Watched 19 Dec 2023

Presented as part of the 2023 Holiday Classics series

Merry Christmas, movie house!

For a lot of families, it’s a tradition to come to my theater and watch It’s A Wonderful Life each year. I had the honor of getting onstage and welcoming them, along with a lot of new faces starting their own traditions, back home tonight. I also got to watch this film for the very first time tonight among people who really care about it.

Its reputation obviously precedes it, but I was surprised at how little I really knew about it going in. It’s an incredibly rich performance from Jimmy Stewart, who gives George Bailey the kind of complexity that the second half of the film commands, and without, sinks. It takes a while to get where it’s going, but by the time you get there, it’s clear that every piece of the puzzle was deliberate and necessary to pack the fullest punch.

To a lot of folks, seeing this film in this place is a sacred tradition. I feel very lucky to be part of it.

This is what I wished for.

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