Cinema Slueth – Three Wise Men and a Baby

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Stars: 4.5 / 5
Recommendation: A journey of self-discovery among three brothers as they rebuild their relationships while taking care of a baby unexpectedly thrust into their hands. And don’t forget the best dance routine by the three brothers, total fun. Another gem in the crown of Hallmark!

Three Wise Men and a Baby is a 2022 Christmas family comedy movie by Hallmark Channel. Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes, Paul Campbell and Margaret Colin are in the lead cast supported by Ali Liebert, Fiona Vroom and Nicole Major. Of course, we shouldn’t forget the Baby, but I couldn’t find the baby’s name anywhere in the credits.

Directed by Terry Ingram, and again produced by a plethora of Producers as is the case with any Hallmark movie, the plot is written by two of the leading stars of Hallmark movies – Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad.

Three adult grown sons – Luke Brennan (portrayed by Andrew Walker), Taylor Brennan (portrayed by Tyler Hynes) and Stephan Brennan (portrayed by Paul Campbell) – are thrust with the responsibility of a baby a week before Christmas while their mother Barbara Brennan (portrayed by Margaret Colin) is helping her sister out. The rest of the film follows the three brothers, their foils and successes in raising the baby for that week; and eventually finding themselves back to each other.

I was waiting for this movie since it was announced as it stars some of my favorite actors – Walker, Hynes and Campbell – in the lead. As well as my favorite actress Sustad in a guest role. I was also curious to see how the story will pan out, will one actor overshadow the others? Or will neither actors shine and pale instead?

Andrew Walker as Luke Brennan is the more sensible and responsible brother. But he is present for everyone so much that he forgets to be present for himself. Do something for himself. Tyler Hynes as Taylor Brennan brings the satirical side of the Brennans, and a hothead – only he could deliver a comic line with a straight face. While Paul Campbell as Stephan Brennan is shy but forms the glue between his brothers playing the peace maker always.

Each of the leads have their distinct roles with equal spacing between them. Writers Sustad and Campbell managed to give them their own identifies without overshadowing the others. The three men have fantastic chemistry between them. Walker and Hynes are related in real-life so we can understand the chemistry to be there. Surprising to see that Campbell melded with them perfectly.

The movie definitely reminds us of the 1987 American comedy film Three Men and a Baby. You can even see the three men recreate the “tossing of the bottle” scene from that 1987 movie.

Matt Hamilton joins the cast as the never grown-up high-school jock Mark McClark who even now tries to torment the Brennans in a funny way, but pretty soon runs with tail hidden between his legs when the Brennans counter him.

The plot-line picks up a little slower, making the audience wait on when the men will become “wise men”. But the story leading up to that is very entertaining, funny and worth the wait. The movie when aired for the first time on Sunday Nov 19th, we were treated to the three leading men appearing between breaks giving us insights into the story.

Nicole Major, Ali Liebert and Fiona Vroom are paired as the potential love interests for the three lead men – Walker, Hynes and Campbell – respectively. Their roles are very small as the writers focus on the men and the baby, but they certainly add charm and make the three leading men complete.

Another example of Hallmark movie that steps away from the usual formula – There is no big city girl returning to her home town to help the town or her family or fix something that no one could fix until she arrived, meet her old boyfriend, review why they broke up, ponder why her current relationship doesn’t work and why she should go back to her old flame, have an almost kiss, an accidental misunderstanding, and get it all resolved by the last 5 minutes of the movie.

Instead the leading men for a change have more say in their characters. The movie also focuses on the struggles of single parenting, of how the mend realize, even if after the fact, how hard it was for their mom but never complained.

A journey of self-discovery among three brothers as they rebuild their relationships while taking care of a baby unexpectedly thrust into their hands. And don’t forget the best dance routine by the three brothers, total fun. Very entertaining, with Christmas fun and much needed change from Hallmark movies. Another gem in the crown of Hallmark!

Spoiler Alerts:

Movie Trivia:

Incidentally Margaret Colin who plays the mother to the three leading men in this film portrayed the love-interest for Tom Selleck in the 1987 American comedy film Three Men and a Baby.
Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad co-wrote the 2020 Christmas romantic drama Christmas by Starlight, in which both of them acted as well. I love the chemistry between Campbell and Sustad a lot. Their 2020 Hallmark Channel romantic movie Wedding Every Weekend is my favorite too.
Don’t miss the guest appearance by Kimberly Sustad as the Doctor in the film. She even quips to the baby “Wow! Three grown men and a baby, huh? You can’t write this stuff, can you?” alluding to her contribution to the story.

4. Paul Campbell also wrote the story for the 2021 Christmas romantic movie An Unexpected Christmas by Hallmark Channel. Tyler Hynes is the lead in that film was well and Andrew Walker makes a guest appearance. One of the very rare Hallmark movies where the story revolves around the leading man as opposed to the leading lady.

5. Don’t miss the very nice dance moves the three leading men perform on Nutcracker music – The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. They repeated the dance routine at Christmas Con 2022 held in New Jersey the weekend of Dec 9 -11. Slight variation to the original routine in the movie though. Here is the Christmas Con 2022 performance – scroll to about 1 min 25 secs of the video to see the routine.