Tout va trop bien

Read reviews anywhere about the 1986 version of Miracles starring Terri Garr and you will either see terrible ratings or outstanding ratings. You seldom see any middle ground except in the averages of the reviewers. I thought I would add this thumbs-up rating to balance out the bad. I admit that if you are not in the mood for a comedy, forget this movie. There are no profound morals or insights into life. There is no social injustice righted. Few things in this movie would ever happen in real life. Yet, if you are in the mood for comedy, Miracles (1986) will certainly provide the motivation to laugh.

Bad things happen to a recently divorced couple, but in the wake of their misfortunes are subtle "miracles" for others. Part of the humor comes from the fact that when faced with dangerous situations, this bickering couple is more concerned with complaining how each other is reacting to the dilemma than the gravity of the situation itself. There is a wide variety of comedic techniques from slapstick to subtle humor. This movie revolves around a recently divorced couple who have such fundamental differences that they would never get back together in real life. However, this is not real life. It is a romantic comedy where miracles can take place, especially in a movie that bears that name.

I was in the mood for a comedy when I watched this movie, and I was not let down.

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the film on HBO/Cannon video cassette "Miracles" is another casualty of the video revolution. A top-of-the-line production shot in Mexico in 1o984 by Orio (with a reported $10,000,000 budget), pic received a negligible regional release in July 1986 ahead of its current home video availability. Without the simple (and remunerative) video cassette option, Orion might have given this one a little push theatrically.

Pic in fact is fitfully entertaining, but hampered severely by writer-director Jim Kouf's antiquated premise, which unwittingly recalls the Cecil B. De Mille approach of the late silent era. As implied by its title, all events in the film are connected, ever so tenuously and always unconvincingly by divine intervention At first it's cute, with lightning bolts and falling rocks setting into motion slapstick occurrences which literally mean life or death for the hapless protagonists. Eventually, the conceit becomes annoying.

Screwball farce is set into motion when an Indian witch doctor in some unidentified Latin American country prays to the heavens for assistance in saving his chief's daughter who is dying. North of the border, the first few of many lightning bolts cause disruptions which bring together inept bank robbers Paul Rodriguez and Christopher Lloyd with just-divorced surgeon Tom Conti and his lawyer wife Teri Garr. Rodriguez kidnaps the duo and Lloyd files the four of them to that Latin country to escape the police.

Predictably Contin ends up at the Latin village afte4r numerous misadventures and saves the little girl, who had an appendicitis attack. By film's end the bickering couple is back together, remarried in a Spanish ceremony.

Way overreaching (his early credits include the script for the horrendously static 1982 comedy "Pink Motel"), filmmaker Kouf evidently was aiming for the 1930s romantic farce, replete with stars Conti and Garr dressed in formal evening clothes throughout, plus the expansive "Romancing the Stone" adventure grafted on. Alas, they ar4e hardly William Powell and Carole Lomard, and though it is fun to watch Garr's patented, fast-talking explosions, Conti is seriously miscast. Attempting a neutral, American accent, he is not believable; in any event, the pic calls for a superstar personality, not a talented character actor. Conti's other 1984 starring assignment, "Saving Grace", similarly was given only a token release via Columbia.

"Miracles" has outstanding technical credits, including the late John Alcott's crystal-sharp lensing. Terrence Marsh's large-sale and wide-ranging production design, as well as impressive stunt work and special effects. A series of fun set pieces do not a movie make.

Miracles tells the story of two exes who find themselves entangled on a drawn out drug smuggling scheme that resulted into them being stranded in South America with no one believing their stories.

Its fine.

It is practically like Romancing the Stone. They practically stuck the hated exes in the film. I just I cannot believe for the love of god believe they made a lawyer a nagging wife role. It such a whiplash of a characterization. Like, she literally does work AND you make her almost unable to do anything sensible.

Very uninspired stuff. I really wished that they actually did not fall in those shameful pratfalls of romcom.

I love this movie. Roger (Tom Conti) and Jean (Terri Garr) are a newly-divorced couple who meet again by accident (literally!) and wind up on a truly incredible journey. Christopher Lloyd has a supporting role as a mad pilot.

My favourite parts are the witchdoctor, the plane landing sequence and the jailbreak and its consequences. The only false note is Tom Conti's American accent, but it's easy to overlook as the rest of the movie hangs together so well.

9 out of 10 from me!

I'm a Tom Conti fan and was attracted to the movie because he was in it. After seeing it the first time I tried to count the number of miracles that occurred. Little ones and big ones, but what I liked best was how all the little miracles kept bringing the hero closer to where he was needed. I didn't realize this until the end of the movie. I enjoyed the way the relationship between the husband and wife changed due to adversity, how they came to depend on each other rather than being independent. The love story is honest, the adventure scenes exciting, the photography clear and colorful, not drab and gloomy. I've seen this movie several time and whenever I have a chance I get someone who hasn't seen it over to watch it. This is a great little movie with a big message.