The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
The Noel Diary
Romance · Comedy · Drama · 2022
Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock their pasts — and hearts?
Movie details
The Noel Diary
2022 Romance · Comedy · Drama 1h 39m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock their pasts — and hearts?
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 The Noel Diary?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe 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.
A Maple Valley Christmas
TV Movie · 2022
Erica is a rancher who has spent her whole life working the family farm with her mother and sister. When Aaron arrives and disrupts her plans, she starts to question what it is she actually wants.
Father of the Bride
Romance · 2022
A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Romance · 2025
Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.
Which Brings Me to You
Romance · 2023
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
A Royal Queens Christmas
TV Movie · 2021
A prince finds his way to Queens during Christmas when a local woman enlists his help with a children's Christmas show.
Jingle Bell Princess
TV Movie · 2021
An actual princess has some mechanical issues and is temporarily grounded. Does she have time for a lobster roll? It is Christmas time in Maine which means snow, quaint scenery, and lots of Christmas lights near the ocean. With the crew distracted attending to the repair, Princess Amelia deplanes to walk through a magical Christmas tree lot near the airport perimeter.
Persuasion
Romance · 2022
Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth - the dashing one she once sent away - crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.
Love in Taipei
Romance · 2023
A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.
Lovely, Still
Drama · 2009
A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.
Northanger Abbey
Romance · 2007
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
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.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Charles Shyer
Written by
Charles Shyer · David Golden · Rebecca Connor
Justin Hartley
Jacob Turner
Barrett Doss
Rachel Campbell
Bonnie Bedelia
Ellie Foster
Essence Atkins
Noel Hayden
James Remar
Scott Turner
Aaron Costa Ganis
Matt Segreto
Jeff Corbett
Ian Page
Court is in session
Put The Noel Diary on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.