Christy: The Movie

I found this to be an exquisitely photographed, skillfully-scripted and carefully cast interpretation of the beloved novel by Catherine Marshall. This wonderful family film includes skilled performances by Stewart Finlay-McLennan returning as the beloved Dr. MacNeill and newcomers Lauren Lee Smith and James Waterston as a very believable Christy and her would-be suitor Reverend David Grantland. Veteran actress Diane Ladd brings to life a Miss Alice who seems to come straight out of the pages of Ms. Marshall's novel.

My own family of six ranging from 4 to 38 yrs. watched "Return to Cutter Gap" with great interest and all were particularly fond of Lauren Lee Smith's portrayal of Christy. My teen children have read the novel and watched the videos of the short-lived CBS series aired in the mid-1990s. All agree that "Return to Cutter Gap" is a wonderful version of "Christy." This was an extremely well-made movie and it left us eager for the two sequels, promised in Spring of 2001. And no, I did NOT get paid to say this--we really did thoroughly enjoy it!

What a disappointment! This movie is poorly written, poorly directed and poorly acted. A deeply heartfelt American classic, Christy, becomes a superficial, boring, vulgar, dumbed down story of which man Christy will have sex with first. The cast is so amateurish and the doctor looks old enough to be Christy's father, not her lover. The only good thing about this movie is that, by comparison, the original Christy television series looks like a masterpiece.

Christy is one of my favorite books, and I absolutely loved Kellie Martin and Tyne Daly along with the other actors in the original TV mini-series. These three movies with Lauren Lee Smith as Christy should be a continuation of the story that stopped with the end of the former series. Instead, they contain almost nothing original and are simply recycled, watered down versions of stories we've already seen.

While I would've been happy to discover new story lines with the people of Cutter Gap, I could also have been satisfied just to see the love triangle play out between Christy, David, and Dr. Neil MacNeill. These three movies take 4 1/2 hours (collectively) to get to the point, and they force the audience to re-hash story lines which had been fully fleshed out in the original series (though sometimes with slightly different characters.) It makes me wonder why the producers felt there was a market for these movies, since it is hardly providing anything new.

I agree with other posters about the lackluster performances of Lauren Lee Smith and Diane Ladd, as compared to Kellie Martin and Tyne Daly. I also felt James Waterston's performance as Rev. David Grantland was poor. I can respect an actor's prerogative to play a character in a new way, and I wouldn't want anyone to try and copy a previous interpretation, but I couldn't stand the end performance of any of these actors. I felt intense compassion for all of these characters in the book and the original mini-series, but during these movies, I didn't care what happened to any of them. I didn't connect with anyone who I originally found interesting, with the exception of Dr. MacNeill's character (played by the returning Stewart Finlay-McLennan.) Christy became wimpy, Miss Alice sounded uncomfortable in her own skin, saying "thee" and "thou" in an awkward way. I found that I couldn't care less about David as a love-interest. There was no chemistry between David and Christy, and I found it hard to believe that she could maintain any sort of interest in him at all. All of these actors sounded stilted and unoriginal while delivering their lines.

In writing this, I fear that I have completely repeated other posters, but I feel my comments are necessary, because I want to more fully represent the people who were disappointed in these movies. I highly recommend the novel and the original TV mini-series, but I could never recommend any of these movies with the new cast.

What a bonanza for fans of Catherine Marshall's Christy! First there was the original series, with Kellie Martin as the innocent, intelligent young schoolteacher. That series endures on cable tv, but now we have a second Christy to admire. Lauren Lee Smith is a taller, more mature Christy. She shines in her very real chemistry with the doctor, my choice for husband. Lauren Lee Smith reminds me of a young Julia Roberts. That is a giant compliment. The actor who plays the doctor, Stewart Finlay-McLennan is quite possibly the best actor on television. He brings the character of Neil MacNeill to life, as though he stepped out of the pages of the book. Now we have two Christys to love, Kellie Martin and Lauren Lee Smith, each beautiful and special in her interpretation of the character.

I was a big fan of the series 'Christy' starring Kellie Martin, Randall Batinkoff, Tyne Daly, Tess Harper and Stewart Finlay-McLennan in the lead roles. You can read my comment on the series just to know how much I liked it. That said, this movie, with all the new actors was just not palatable for me...

As I was watching the film, I tried to keep thoughts of the series away from my mind, but I could see and hear Kellie Martin. Lauren Lee Smith, though tall and beautiful, is such a dry and petered-down version of Christy that Kellie Martin played with such earnestness that her soul shined forth. Martin embodied the complexity that is Christy - with her faith, her optimism, her apprehensions, her unbridled earnestness to do something for "her children" and the people of Cuttergap... And Tyne Daly... Man, let's not even go there! I admire Diane Ladd. I do. She and Laura Dern are probably one of the most explosive mother-daughter acting duo in history. But it's Alice Henderson we're talking over here! Alice Henderson whose no-nonsense approach belies the conflicts she faces within herself and as the head of the backwood's mission... Tyne Daly brought so much power, conviction and grace to that role - I used to always look forward to the animated discussions that ensued between her character and Christy's. With Diane Ladd it seemed as if the filmmakers had no qualms in just breezing over the strength and power that Tyne Daly invested Alice's character with and instead just focusing on her vulnerable side... that's downright character-assassination, happening at a more unbearable extent than the one meted out to Christy's character with Lauren Lee Smith playing it...

Another actor that is sorely missed in this movie is Tess Harper. I think James Waterston is a good enough substitute for Randall Batinkoff but Tess Harper with her piercing blue eyes brought forth the duality that is Fairlight Spencer - both fiery and docile... Her camaraderie with Christy was so well portrayed - they were indeed like friends...

As I saw the movie, I also couldn't help but wonder, what's with the make-up? I mean, what's with Lauren Lee Smith and Diane Ladd SO dolled up? It was so distracting and not suited to the characters. If having new actors play Christy and Alice wasn't bad enough, it took me a while as I wondered helplessly, "Why are they so dolled up?" Just see the old eps of 'Christy' and you'll know what I mean...

The saving grace of all this, besides a few of the original supporting actors, was the location - that was the only thing that truly harked back to the original 'Christy', so much so that you could, for a few seconds, forget you were watching a rehashed, dolled-up version of one the best period drama series of American television.