No Greater Love

I recorded this movie probably a year ago on TCT Network, the title and story synopsis got my attention, finally got a chance to watch it undistracted. Wife and I watch a lot of Hallmark movies; No Greater Love resembles a Hallmark movie except it is more serious. The acting is as good as any movie of this kind, actually I found it quite compelling. The photography is clean, clear and attractive, the pacing of the story is steady and kept my interest. And the music selections from West Coast Revival, Downhere, and especially the divine Michelle Tumes, perfectly punctuate the story.

Seeing other reviewers comment on how the storyline is Christian, as though that were a bad thing - I wanted to share something about that. I'm a former atheist/agnostic, and so I remain sensitive to groan worthy or preachy scripts. This movie is quite good, actually, no reason to wince. As a professional person who came to Christianity as an adult, I want to confirm that the script of No Greater Love is extremely realistic. Not corny or overdramatic or clicheed. The plot line is certainly unusual, that makes it entertaining, you want to see how it all turns out. You care about the characters. But the conversations, the people's thoughts and reactions, all of these are what I've seen in my life journey.

I mean exactly what I'm writing here; I've lived or seen these kinds of things. The kinds of conversations you might have with a pastor, or a close friend, or a Christian relative when you're not Christian - all of these do take place and this movie presents them unvarnished. Similarly the marital conflicts, the pain of loss (in several ways in the movie), the awkwardness of recontacting - all of these came through clearly as intensely real. The kinds of feelings people have when they are long time Christians, relatively new Christians, or thinking about becoming a Christian - the script sets them up, and these actors wonderfully conveyed those feelings as real people.

It's a very thoughtful movie. I congratulate everybody involved in making it, and I encourage people to watch it. Actually, watch it alone, as I did. You'll get into the story and think more about it.

First of all was the directing and editing horrible.. the actors were below average and not to mention the plot. it was really a waste of my time

Straight to DVD is usually done for films studios don't think will make it in the theater and so they dump it off (like some of Disney's animated sequels).

However, in this case, the strategy was to involve people who already were searching for a good romance story (not the usual sex comedy that gets called a romance story these days) and also people of faith who would like to show it in groups as well as own a copy themselves and used outlets such as people connector websites, etc. to get buzz going and then released it so people could get it via retailers (like Wal- Mart, Target, etc )and online providers (Amazon.com,etc. which had it as number 1 in both family films and Christian films in terms of sales).

It's not the typical 'hit you over the head' type 'message' film that we've seen so many of or the ones where the actors could barely pass for low budget TV actors.

This was a well thought out and directed story.

In the opinion of a friend who repaired film projectors both military and private for a living and thus has also gotten to watch a lot of films, quite possibly the best made film by Christians that even non- believers will see and not be turned off in the first 10 minutes.

Give it a watch.

I rated it maybe higher than I would just because the early voting (if you can call 15 votes voting) seemed to only be the pessimistic.

Those that watched it and enjoyed it have families with kids and have more to do that write reviews for online sites. I hope many will get to it soon so that even more will seek it out.

Pretty good plot to start with but I became quickly disappointed when the writer or writers went way overboard which is sometimes typical in these type of movies. They suddenly ended up portraying Christianity as some sorta cult. If the intent was to introduce an possibly convert others to their beliefs I think they may have only succeeded in losing a few.

Among the previous reviewers of No Greater Love there must not have been any classic movie fans. If so they would have immediately recognized the plot My Favorite Wife here. The only difference is that in the period of separation of wife Danielle Bisutti instead of her spending time with someone like Randolph Scott on a desert island Bisutti descends into the depths of degradation before finding religion.

Bisutti is the Irene Dunne character and the Cary Grant character is Anthony Tyler Quinn. He's a workaholic husband with little time for wife and kid who grows up to be Aaron Sanders. She's been gone for ten years and he's thinking his son needs a mom. Work associate Alexis Boozer Sterling might fill the bill and he proposes.

But in those mysterious ways Sanders finds Bisutti at some church youth group, her act all cleaned up and soon enough Quinn does as well. The problem now is that Quinn is not a believer.

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne seemed to work it out without reference to religion. But as this is a Christian film it has to follow certain parameters.

Nevertheless this one is not overtly preachy and it's entertaining and I love happy endings.