this desperately eager to please movie eventually finds its eagerness rewarded, and even cynics will enjoy seeing Dickens (spoiler alert) meet his deadline
mostly a story about overcoming writer's block. That sounds boring, and it surely would be unbearable if anyone but Stevens was in the role. Stevens is a great physical actor who already proved
it lays on the pathos, moralizing and forced whimsy thicker than figgy pudding, but it's still entertaining, heart-warming family fare, thanks in large part to charmingly sincere performances
brightly lit and anchored by Mr. Stevens's infectious, live-wire performance, the film, directed by Bharat Nalluri, nevertheless proceeds like a television holiday special, designed to distract children while winking at their parents
a delightful mess of a movie, "The Man Who Invented Christmas" turns Charles Dickens into a strikingly handsome charmer with an innate ability to spin empty sheaves of paper into gold