A Day Late and a Dollar Short

This movie was so touching...without being corny. The book is one of my favorites and the movie stayed mostly true to it. I just wished it was a little longer...the characters fleshed out more. I was able to follow the storyline easily because of reading the book, but someone not familiar with Viola and her family would not be invested in the characters as much because they get such a short time to impress upon the viewer their perosnalities. Still -great, great job for all those involved! From now on out I know when I pick up my well worn cop I will envision the actors as these characters. They breathed a great new life into an already wonderful story!

"There's a whole lot of mess I have to clean up before I go." Viola (Goldberg) is the matriarch of a family that has fallen apart. Her kids all hate each other, the husband has found a new woman and no one likes her anymore. After a health scare she is given news that changes her life. On the verge of death she decides it time to fix her family before it's too late. I will start with...yes this is a Lifetime movie, I am a guy, I actually did enjoy it. That said though it was a little too sappy for me. I think, like most movies lately, when another movie that is about the same thing comes out comparisons begin. This one is very much like August Osage County in plot and theme. While this movie was good and worth seeing August was so much better. Seeing that one first may have affected how I felt about this one but August had deeper relationships and just felt like a more complete movie. It may have been because it was a made-for-TV movie but this felt really thin compared to the other one. All that said though the movie is good and if you haven't seen August then you may like this more then I did. Overall, a good movie worth seeing but once again a movie suffers from being too identical to a recent movie. I give this a B-.

This is a good movie to watch, it has so many mixed feelings. Made me laugh and cry, a rollercoaster of emotions. They did very well with choosing the characters to portray the crazy broken family. The main character uses her knowledge as a mother to try and reconnect her family. It also shows hard topics that are hard to discuss especially when it is in the family. It shows how secrets can impact you as a person and how the choices they make matter. Everyone has issues but it should never stop anyone from asking for help. It really shows each and everyone's issues and most of them are trying to keep it to themselves.

Premiering on Lifetime, "A Day Late and a Dollar Short" is a new made for t.v movie based on the novel by Terry McMillan. Directed by Stephen Tolkin, the story is centered on Viola and Cecil Price, ( Whoopi Goldberg, Ving Rhames), a divorced couple with four grown children. Dysfunctional on so many levels, the story is told from Viola's point of view as she tries to help her children fix their mistakes and tend to their slew of domestic and marital woes. The film contains issues such as fidelity, illness, child abuse, molestation, etc. With such a great cast, the acting was fairly decent. However, the storyline is quite cliché with nothing new to offer. A lot could' ve been left to the imagination as far as trying to piece together the lives of the characters. The ending proved to be a special moment. The letters read to each other were touching and endearing. However, they were all based on the feelings of Viola when they should've expressed the feelings of the children instead. Overall, good but not great.

For a Lifetime movie, this is an exceptional one! It has a great cast, and not just because of the well-known actors that are in this. Even the not-well known, and the not-at-all known actors were excellent.

This movie deals with quite a few adult themes, and some that will make people want to shy away. What I loved, was that the movie didn't shy away from them. They tackled some really hard issues, and didn't try to play them down in tone at all.

I will not spoil this film for anyone other than to say that it deals with life and death. There is humor in it, and there is great sadness in it.

I highly recommend watching this. You won't regret it.