The Miracle Club

It seemed like one of those British feel-good, small scale, movies, that you know that will not sweep you of your feet, but you know that you are going to have fun. And this is exactly what you get, just with a large-scale actress, unlike the ones that has one or two old actors or actresses - now you get three and what an excellent choice of casting.

Its pretty known story about a woman that comes to her hometown after her mother passed away and starts opening closed doors from old and rusty closets from the past. She goes to a road trip with her mothers' old friends to a cause that her mother started and this time we are talking about a holy place in France, which Holly Marry was supposedly watched bathing or something.

Two old ladies and one young woman with a silent child are the supporting characters and almost all of them has a strong connection to the visiting woman and a big secret is about the raddle their reality and ordinary quiet lives. You can sprinkle a little bit religion issues and off course faith stuff and we are inside the heart of the movie and pretty quickly.

It doesn't have anything special as it goes for the script and the actresses doesn't give the one time show of their lives, but all together works good and even tries to get us of the regular movie mold and script limitations. It has some funny-bitter-sweet moments, heart breaking moments, that are not selling very well and it is pretty good.

None of the sub-genre of this movie doesn't represent properly. When it is funny, it is not funny enough and doesn't try to be very comic. When it is sad, it is hardly going to pull any emotion from you and it is not so good with drawing the audience into the heart of the plot, but somehow it manages to get out unharmed.

It is a movie that doesn't want to break the regular road of the script that tries to get to the desired result - give the audience what is expected from it. Just watching those epic actresses join forces together, but the fact they all settle for such a mediocre movie and script gives us hope for better results next time.

Four ladies from Balllygar, Ireland join a travel group going to Lourdes hoping for personal miracles to happen. That's it in a nutshell, but on the other hand it says almost nothing about the substance of this warm and mostly gentle film. An exceptional cast (Maggie Smith, Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Agnes O'Casey and many fine supporting players) leads the way. These four have a complicated mutual history the threads of which intertwine and finally resolve in unlooked-for mutual forgiveness which, if there is one, is the actual miracle. They heal each other, and that's the message.

Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith do their best with strong Irish accents -- though I was left wondering why native Irish actors weren't picked (maybe the producers just wanted the star power). You might expect that Maggie Smith would steal the show, as she can do with almost anything, but she turns out to have the restraint necessary to make this a true ensemble piece. And it's actually Chrissie (Laura Linney's part) who turns out to be the crucial role in the story. Enjoy.

The Miracle Club is a small movie about several ladies from Ireland set during the 1960's who win a pilgrimage trip to Lourdes in France. Maggie Grace, Kathy Bates, and Agnes O'Casey have great chemistry to come together in order to win a trip of a lifetime meanwhile Laura Linney returns home to attend her mother's funeral. Each of the ladies are looking for a miracle to either cure a physical ailment or to help with their emotional breakdown. These academy award nominated and winning actors were enjoyable to watch, the movie was well received with great direction and cinematography. Stephen Rea also joined the cast as Gates no good husband who took his wife for granted. I would definitely recommend this Thaddeus O'Sullivan film for the whole family to enjoy.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Miracle Club, I just knew with a cast that included Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Laura Linley that I had to watch it. I was not disappointed in the slightest.

It is a lovely story about a friendship, past mistakes, love and forgiveness.

The casting is brilliant and as usual Smith, Bates and Linley give magnificent performances.

It tells the story of woman who returns to her home village after 40 years away, to attend the funeral of her mother whom she has not seen in all those years. She is met with hostility from her old friend and the mother of her long lost love.

It culminates with them taking a trip to Lourdes all in search of their own miracle.

I really feel honoured to have watched this film and really did not want it to end.

Unusually positive movie of happy endings without becoming syrupy or preachy. Starts a bit slow and contrived, but becomes engaging after the bus to Lourdes departs and a web of hidden relationships and past sins are gradually are explained. Unusual film in that it displays almost an overdose of vivid Catholic imagery. Includes a priest who's a likeable, normal guy. Its portrayal of 1960's Ireland was a fascinating historical throwback. Irish accents were pretty thick. I wish I could have watched with subtitles on because I could not understand some key moments of dialogue. Based on others reactions in the theater, I don't think I was alone in this.