The story about three men who find a baby has been told many times in the movies, starting with a silent movie in 1916, followed by several more, most notably "3 Godfathers" with John Wayne in 1948 and 1986's "Three Men and a Baby" with Tom Selleck.
Writers Paul Campbell and Kimberley Sustad have taken the story and updated it in clever and expert fashion. This is extremely well written as the baby causes the three men to come to understand themselves, as well as women, particularly their own mother.
The three actors here, Campbell, Tyler Hynes, and Andrew Walker, are all just wonderful and you can tell they really enjoyed playing these parts. Supporting them are Ali Liebert as Fiona and Fiona Vroom as Susie, both very good, and the producers cleverly cast Margaret Collin, who co-starred in the Selleck movie, as the mother, and she is simply terrific. Add Matt Hamilton as an obnoxious neighbor and Sustad herself, briefly, as an ER doctor, and you've got a cast that comes together perfectly.
The direction and editing are great and serve to add to the spirited, funny, and sometimes heartwarming script.
Sustad and Campbell have written before for Hallmark
(the wonderful "Christmas by Starlight") and we can only hope that this partnership continues.
Sustad's other new movie this 2022 season is "Lights! Camera! Christmas!," another "10" in my book, but "Wise Men" beats it by a "baby step" as the best so far.
If this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will.
Ps Wrote the above review in 2022. Turns out that this movie was the most watched made-for-cable movie of that year in the US and Campbell and Sustad won a Leo Award in Canada for their screenplay/writing.
