Monsieur Miracle

Rob Morrow's direction in playing the character of Mr. Miracle was very annoying, distracting and almost Aspberger's-like in this otherwise wonderful screenplay of Debbie Macomber.

While the storyline was delightful, the directing of Rob Morrow's portrayal of Mr. Miracle was abysmal. His facial expressions and twitches made him seem mentally challenged rather than a Christmas angel "newbie" as portrayed in the book.

While MRS. MIRACLE is very clever, MR. MIRACLE falls short as a result of the lead character's performance. I don't believe it is a reflection on Rob Morrow's talent but the direction he received.

Would love to see a part two next year with another director.

Despite a couple of issues, I do like this film. The biggest and most notable issue for me is Rob Morrow, whom I've always loved, but misses the mark here. His character is far too much of a caricature. It seems that he is trying to emulate Clarence from the 1947 film "It's A Wonderful Life", which runs along a similar theme. Unfortunately, it is easier to compare him to Dustin Hoffman's "Rainman" and not just because of his physical similarities, but because he acts like he is on the spectrum and has a desperate need to poop, but doesn't want to miss out if something exciting happens. I don't know if it was his choice to play it like that or whether it was the director's input, but it really irks and demeans the story somewhat.

There are many other films out there with a similar take on Clarence's attempt to get his wings and not all are successful, but the actual story of this one is really quite nice.

I do like the chemistry between Mr Miracle and his coach and it's nice to see the actor playing Eric being someone who isn't a complete slime ball as he does in so many of this genre.

It's a bit more of a redemption story set at Christmas, rather than a Christmas story featuring redemption as the only real festive tie ins are "A Christmas Carol" and the tree at the very end. Unless you count the fact that he is an Angel and there is heavenly magic involved.

I would like to see a Mr Miracle 2, which was obviously set up at the end, as that story interests me, but it doesn't look like it's been made or about to be made in the near future. I think it would have been more appealing as he would have learned to be a bit more human and therefore less cringey to watch.

Finally I'd like to say Tommy is by far the best character and performance in this film, I'm sure you will all enjoy him as much as I did.

Rob Morrow is a fledgling guardian angel. He has been assigned to help Britt Irvin get her life back on track after the death of her father in this well-meaning but distracted Hallmark Channel Christmas Season movie.

Morrow as the hopelessly clueless angel offers a funny performance with a squeaky voice, but his story of learning how to do his job seems like it should be comedy relief from the budding romance between Miss Irvin and William Vaughan. Yet it takes up about half the movie and it feels like padding. More than that, it seems like auctorial commentary, telling the audience how they are supposed to feel, whether they do or not.

The details of making this movie -- the camera-work, the performances -- are well done. Unfortunately, the script seems more about the mechanical operation of the plot and telling the audience what to feel than letting us discover it within ourselves.

Christmas films can go either way, which has been my experience watching overtime the festive output of Lifetime and Hallmark. They can either be well-meaning, charming, warm-hearted and don't feel too heavy. Or they can be too over-sentimental, cheesy, contrived and bland. There have been many films of theirs that have fallen in both camps and in the camp where there is a bit of both. The premise for 'Mr Miracle' did sound quite charming.

Sadly the execution was a long way from charming, pretty much the complete anti-thesis. Really did want to like 'Mr Miracle' and there was actually potential for it to be good, but, while it does have a few good things, it does a lot wrong. Being particularly unbalanced by one aspect talked about at great length already to the extent that it ruins the film. This is not coming from somebody who takes pleasure in being critical and actually tend to be generous, including on films often looked upon with scorn.

'Mr Miracle' has a few redeeming merits. With one massively glaring exception, the cast are game and do their utmost best to bring the film and their characters to life. The leads are particularly appealing.

It's a decent looking film too, especially the nostalgic looking scenery that has a very festive atmosphere. Some of the music is pleasant.

However, a lot doesn't work. The dialogue does tend to sound awkward and could have been a good deal tighter, also rather too reliant on the cheese and schmaltz. The story often is pretty dull and feels too thin for the length, and then the last act is rushed and contrived and ends too neatly. There is also nothing new to it and didn't get anything from it emotionally. The charm and heart are missing. The characters could have done with a good deal more growth, despite the valiant efforts of the cast the characters felt underdeveloped.

The direction never rises above workmanlike and the character interactions are at best routine, not entirely disconnected but the spark isn't there. What ruins 'Mr Miracle' is the titular character himself, instead of coming over as a real, sincere person he is instead too much of a neurotic caricature to the point of unintentional creepiness. Which Rob Morrow overdoes dreadfully, everything about the performance was exaggerated and over-compensated.

Summing up, pretty weak. 3/10.

The movie has no heart. For some reason the point seems to be for this angel, Rob Morrow, to get the main character, Addie, to "believe" in herself. Why? I have no idea. There is no sense of urgency or meaning to this fact. Now here I am at the end of the movie still not able to figure out what the heck her problem is! The main character we are suppose to care about Addie, seems lost, self centered and has zero self awareness and resents her Dad for nothing. You want to slap the character. I had nothing but irritation for her. Was not impressed by the actress playing her. It is hard to have any sympathy for her, when she had two loving supportive parents but does not like herself. Go to therapy then but do not make an entire movie around it! Rob Morrow decided to go with a very strange voice and odd take on being a new angel. He is hard to watch. He acts like a backwards person who walks around is a daze. It does not work. It does not even feel very Christmas-y. If you want a nice movie to play in the background while you work around the house, skip this one.