Finding Normal

Depending on your view of life and how to live it, you may agree with certain things here or not. It is important for some to have and reach certain goals to be happy - or to make others happy. Being in a small town also means everyone knows everyone (sounds cliche but also true).

So what do our characters want here? Or rather is it achievable? In movies I reckon everything is achievable anyway, that aside though, the movie is a journey and a character building one at that. More or less only thinking about herself at first, there is more to discover for our main character (no pun intended). A nice little movie - but surely not for everyone.

A doctor (Candace Cameron Bure), eager to reach her new life in another city, is caught for speeding and when the license is run, is found to have a number of outstanding violations. At her hearing, she is held without in the town without incarceration until the fines are paid off and her car impounded as a precautions for a potential flight risk. Without local access to her regular means of cash for emergencies, the judge, being the town's secretly ailing physician, has an opportunity for some leisure in his remaining days and uses his less than willing detainee to tend to his many patients who need to be seen on regular rounds during his brief absences. Without a hotel and an open jail and without the use of her car, uses available transportation and the available jail cell each night as her hotel room and during the day makes rounds to his many patients. Over the short time the doctor (Bure) reflects on initial hardships and those she has met and begins to look at life in this small town and the contrast of the life of as a city physician, a physicians's wife while being drawn to a local man. A light romance that injects a twist on the Doc Hollywood. With some funny moments this warm, light romance is a keeper that I will see again and again.

Found this one on Netflix a couple of years ago and don't even remember why I added it to my list. None of the cast members were known to me. Might have been looking for some lightweight escapism.

This provided. It seemed like the kind of rom-com that Reese Witherspoon might have made, and there is more than a passing resemblance between Candace Cameron Bure and Reese. Something about this movie drew me in. I especially liked Lou Beatty Jr. as the judge. There weren't many false notes in the movie, all the way up to and including the "message" contained in the courtroom sequence. Agree or disagree with the legal issues, they don't take up a lot of time and won't cause you any trauma. I'm not the least bit religious and strongly support separation of church and state. Despite that, there was much more to like about Finding Normal than to dislike, and I have recommended it to a lot of my friends.

This film begins with a female doctor by the name of "Lisa Leland" (Candace Cameron Bure) leaving Los Angeles to drive all the way to New York to be with her boyfriend "Steve" (Andrew Bongiorno) who also happens to be a doctor as well. And judging from their rather selfish attitudes it appears that the two of them are just right for each other. However, things become a bit more complicated when Lisa is pulled over for speeding in Normal, Louisiana and after a quick check is discovered to have a number of other unpaid parking tickets. As a result, she is summoned to appear before the judge named "Doc Shelby" (Lou Beatty Jr.) who sentences her to 72 hours of community service as the town doctor. Having never been to a small town she soon learns that there is another side of life that she never imagined existed. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was essentially a clone of "Doc Hollywood" which incorporated a Christian message in its theme. Although I have no problem with that, I must admit that it lacked the zest of its predecessor to a great degree and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Dearly love actor, producer Lou Beatty in movie Finding Normal. He steals your heart in this movie. He's so likable, lovable, intelligent, quick with humor, wonderfully caring & has a great deal of wisdom.