Michael's Movie Grade: B
A very good-hearted little feel-good movie.
This is one of those movies where so much of the reason it works is due to the cast and the characters they are playing. This movie has some really great actresses in it including Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith and Agnes O'Casey (this is her first feature film but is simply wonderful in it). Every one of them simply lights up the screen whenever they are on. Not only do they all have great chemistry but they also work off of each other very well. Because of this even the most cliché scenes have a good emotional connection to us, because the actresses make them completely believable. The characters that they play are also very well handled. These are characters that are quite flawed but very likable as well. Their flaws can't hide that underneath it all they do have good hearts. The good heartedness behind these characters is so much of what makes this movie so charming. The basic story is nothing we have not seen before in many feel-good movies, but it is done fairly well here and its charms overcome its clichés. I did appreciate that this film was not afraid to have some quite effective sad moments as this made the feel-good moments work all the better. The humor here may be hit and miss but when a comedic moment worked it did easily put a smile on my face.
However the clichés do make it, so it is hard for this film to truly stand out and as much as this movie works it is still bound to get lost in the sheer amount of these type of feel-good movies that are very similar. I do admit I am not a fan of the scenes that have to do with the main characters' husbands, all of whom are quite bland and cliché characters that feel more like plot points than actual characters.
While it is familiar, this film should delight anyone who likes this type of feel-good movie.
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