Un été magique

I didn't know anything about this movie before watching it. But with Morgan Freeman as the leading character, I believed it had potential. Even my husband, who rarely watches movies and likes even fewer, thought it was a movie worth watching. It has humor, pathos, and leaves the viewer feeling good when the lights go up. Morgan F. does his usual amazing performance as a jaded writer suffering from writer's block who (reluctantly) moves to a small community for the summer. He ends up dog-sitting in a house next door to a lovely woman (who is going through a divorce) and her three daughters. The middle daughter, Finnegan, charms her way into his life and his heart in her pursuit of imagination. Although Morgan F.'s character starts out pretty rough around the edges, he is witty, articulate, and increasingly endearing as the story progresses. A "feel good" family film!

Wheelchair bound curmudgeon and heavy drinker Monte Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman), a writer of western stories house-sits for a friend in Belle Isle and softens considerably when he befriends single mother Charlotte O'Neil (Virginia Madsen) and her three children.

I don't remember liking a movie as much as this one since THE ASTRONAUT FARMER. The cast were perfect. The dialogues were spot on and very entertaining. The banter between Monte and 9-year old Finnegan O'Neil (Emma Fuhrmann) was pure gold and proved to be the beginnings of Monte softening his outlook on life. I wished that banter never ended. Like I said Pure Gold. Kudos to the writers.

This is indeed a feel good movie with a low key pacing and you never wanted it to end.

For starters we see curmudgeon Monte be bam-boozled into reading an obituary for someone he "didn't know;" getting a side-kick in Carl (Ash Christian) a somewhat special needs person; giving aspirin to Ringo, the dog (that he renames Spot) with stiff hind quarters; and helping Finnegan learn to write stories. All this sets the stage for everything that follows. And, everything that follows shows growth of all characters.

Sometimes like a big juicy cheeseburger you just "gotta have" you also "gotta see" a pure gold movie like this. (10/10)

FYI: Virginia Madsen was also in the Astronaut Farmer.

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Rating: A

I started watching this film without to many expectations even for a family drama, but as the story stars to develop you can tell this is going somewhere special and is definitely worthy of your time. This is the story of a writer on his winter days that goes to an island to spent the summer and discover that not everything may be lost. Without getting into to many details I can tell you Morgan Freeman is amazing as always, he delivers a beautiful performance and the rest of the cast is good as well. The script is fantastic, you can imagine your self in those situations and feel for the characters. The photography and the music is perfect and everything together leaves you with a taste of "Life is beautiful" in your mouth.

With all the crap coming out Hollywood these days, this is a feel good movie and if you really pay attention to the undertones, the movie lifts you up and is inspiring. The acting is fairly good, and Morgan F. as always has the right line to say at each moment.

If you are in the mood for a family gathering type movie with a happy ending, this is a one to watch.

The movie is inspirational and although the love innuendo between the two main characters can be thought by some to be distasteful, the real age of Monty is never revealed in the film so assumptions should not be made based on Morgan Freeman's real age.

It is not often to find a movie that is simple, offers nice character growth with a nice and simple story. Often movies today don't seem to hold my attention no matter how many special effects are present.

This movie made me interested in each character in the story and I appreciate that very much. Tonight was my second time seeing the movie and I enjoyed even more this time.