Mr. Miracle

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. The premise for 'Mr Miracle' did sound quite charming.

Sadly the execution was a long way from charming, pretty much the complete anti-thesis. Really did want to like 'Mr Miracle' and there was actually potential for it to be good, but, while it does have a few good things, it does a lot wrong. Being particularly unbalanced by one aspect talked about at great length already to the extent that it ruins the film. This is not coming from somebody who takes pleasure in being critical and actually tend to be generous, including on films often looked upon with scorn.

'Mr Miracle' has a few redeeming merits. With one massively glaring exception, the cast are game and do their utmost best to bring the film and their characters to life. The leads are particularly appealing.

It's a decent looking film too, especially the nostalgic looking scenery that has a very festive atmosphere. Some of the music is pleasant.

However, a lot doesn't work. The dialogue does tend to sound awkward and could have been a good deal tighter, also rather too reliant on the cheese and schmaltz. The story often is pretty dull and feels too thin for the length, and then the last act is rushed and contrived and ends too neatly. There is also nothing new to it and didn't get anything from it emotionally. The charm and heart are missing. The characters could have done with a good deal more growth, despite the valiant efforts of the cast the characters felt underdeveloped.

The direction never rises above workmanlike and the character interactions are at best routine, not entirely disconnected but the spark isn't there. What ruins 'Mr Miracle' is the titular character himself, instead of coming over as a real, sincere person he is instead too much of a neurotic caricature to the point of unintentional creepiness. Which Rob Morrow overdoes dreadfully, everything about the performance was exaggerated and over-compensated.

Summing up, pretty weak. 3/10.

I thought this movie was fun and kind of cute. Unlike some other reviewers, I liked Rob Morrow's performance as Harry the angel. He brought a wide-eyed, goofy, naive innocence to the role. He helped you imagine what it would be like to be experiencing Earth life for the first time, with all its weird emotions, sensations and unfathomable social norms. I liked how he was almost always smiling and upbeat.

The romance between Addie and Erich was okay. It seemed a little forced and unrealistic, and I wish they had developed it a little more. Not sure why Addie had such a hard time believing in herself. Her low self-esteem needed a little more compelling a backstory for me to make it truly believable. Truth be told, however, Addie's story took kind of a back seat to Harry's. He was the character that we were most invested in, and Addie was important only in so far as her success advanced his progression as an angel.

I also read Debbie MaComber's Mr. Miracle book, and the film follows it reasonably closely. I think the book develops the Addie/Erich relationship a lot better, though. Also, there is more drama. For example, Mr. Conceito is truly a tyrant in the book and he attempts to get Elayna, who is a school employee, fired for being involved in Harry's class. He also attempts to shut down Harry's class party because it somehow violated school regulations. Details like this might have added more meat to the plot of the movie, but I guess you have time constraints in a movie and can only do so much.

All in all, I thought the movie was a fun and charming and definitely entertaining, and the characters, especially Harry, were likable and relatable.

Rob Morrow's direction in playing the character of Mr. Miracle was very annoying, distracting and almost Aspberger's-like in this otherwise wonderful screenplay of Debbie Macomber.

While the storyline was delightful, the directing of Rob Morrow's portrayal of Mr. Miracle was abysmal. His facial expressions and twitches made him seem mentally challenged rather than a Christmas angel "newbie" as portrayed in the book.

While MRS. MIRACLE is very clever, MR. MIRACLE falls short as a result of the lead character's performance. I don't believe it is a reflection on Rob Morrow's talent but the direction he received.

Would love to see a part two next year with another director.

Rob Morrow is a great actor, but making his angel character traits were awful. Could have done without the physicality, expressions & gait, & portrayal of cluelessness , which made watching it painful. The movie as a whole was good.

I liked the lead & the grinch-like school principal. The story & lessons on self esteem were good. The supporting actors were good.

You could tell this movie was made a while ago, when acting (blame writing & directing, not the actors, but green-lighting the finished product? Needing improvement.

Glad writing & directing has improved greatly, over the years. Mrs Miracle Christmas was better by leaps & bounds.

This movie has such great potential, with a wonderful story to tell . Almost every one is great but the main character could at times hard to watch. I get he should have certain naïveté but they made him less unexperienced angel and more sweet over the top guy on the spectrum. Which would be fine but if that is his character they should have made that clear in movie. Over all the movie was a good movie but honestly I had to fast forward through some of it.