Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Miracle

It's Thanksgiving weekend, and you may have heard from friends or family at your feast (when inevitably discussing your Hallmark habit) that all Hallmark movies have the same plot, so why bother! Well, do they all have an advice-dealing, perpetually smiling, ever-perky, angel-like character like Mrs. Miracle? I think not.

She's a unique one. Except for the other movies or novels she has appeared in, but I digress.

DMJMM (movies with titles this long should have an acronym), is an evenly paced drama about three siblings deciding the fate of their grandmother's company and estate. They're going to screw it up, so an angel . . . Sorry, Mrs. Miracle appears at just the right time to guide them through the final stages of estate planning and life advice.

This is a wonderful character created for novels by Debbie Macomber. She has appeared in several other movies - and even played by Everybody Loves Raymond icon Doris Roberts. In DMJMM, she's played to perfection by Rachel Boston. Her happiness isn't over the top or sappy, but rather a spark that guides the decisions of people in need of help. Think Mary Poppins without the singing.

Our love story is between Charlotte (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes) and Austin (Tanner Novlan), who both have real dreams and wishes and need to work it out.

Measuring Christmas Magic: Yeah, in bunches. Mrs Miracle is all Christmas magic.

Cast Kudos: Rachel Boston as our title character. But also a nod to Logan Carriere, who plays young Cody. He's got a bright future.

Alternative movie titles: Anything shorter than the current title of DMJMM; Mrs. Miracle and the Battle for the Board Seat. OK, that's longer, but also more accurate.

I enjoy these Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle movies. I have liked all the other actresses that have played Mrs. Miracle and I think Rachel Boston did a fantastic job. She has those facial expressions that can sell a special secret and doesn't take herself too serious that she seems like she is having fun in the role.

I especially enjoyed this movie because it included family love and personal love. But most of all it made me wanting to know the woman who had just passed. She must have been quite the lady.

Now was it predicable of course it was, what Hallmark movie isn't. I hope they continue making more.

7.4 stars.

Not exactly sure about the new Miss Miracle although she's OK for the part. Interesting use of the bottomless Mary Poppins bag of tricks. She can reach in her purse, pull out a horse if she wants to. The idea being that she's got magical powers, whether she's an angel or some sort of Mary Poppins, but just makes the movie more interesting for the kids. As for the adults it's just whimsical, silly, but entertaining enough.

A couple of side stories are somewhat shallow, so we don't get to see quite enough development of some of the characters. The younger brother with the financial problems is actually the most interesting of all, even though he's kind of a trouble maker of sorts. Older brother is the studious one, but he likes to travel, see the world. The daughter is the smart one who was in love as a teenager. She is probably the female lead, shared with Miss Miracle, and it's somewhat unorthodox. Now she has the opportunity to fall in love with the same guy 20 or so years later. But once upon a time she was married and now has a young autistic boy, who appears to be on the fringe of the spectrum. There's a lot going on with the story, that's what I'm trying to say, there's a bit too much happening, too many directions.

For 2024 Hallmark gives us one more installment in the saga of Mrs. Miracle. The original two, with Doris Roberts, did, indeed, have some magic. The choice of the actress for the role, Rachel Boston, seems well justified. In the 2017 movie "Christmas in Angel Falls", she convincingly played an angel, projecting the feeling of inner mirth and wholesomeness with levity and restraint. I am not sure whether seven years have changed her so much, or the script and movie direction have made the difference. In this movie, her performance appears uneven and somewhat hollow. She wanders between acting frantically silly ( again, the recent Hallmark penchant for making a farce of everything), rather than joyous, and somberly serious. She gets involved in other people's lives almost forcefully, rather than nudging, and talks too much, leading people rather than hinting. She seems in command of the action, rather than in a gentle advisory capacity. In essence, the angel has lost her joy and Mrs. Miracle has lost her magic. The rest of the story is bland, with characters that sound superficial, with no psychological consistency, and predictable outcomes, though not well constructed by the action.. Is it a bad movie? Not really. It is watchable, with some values and Christmas spirit, but it is half-baked and poorly inspired. Once more, I feel that somebody at Hallmark has lost the ability to really feel the Christmas spirit and just goes through the motions, probably pressed by the need to produce volumes of movies, rather than caring for quality and substance.

I love Rachel Boston, she is one of my favorite Hallmark Actresses. I knew from the commercial that Hallmark made the right choice casting Rachel as Mrs. Miracle. But I had no idea how right she was until I saw the movie. This movie was so heartwarming and fun. Yes Mrs. Miracle might be a bit over the top and silly but that's how she should be. She was sent to help the family heal and have fun together and apart. And that couldn't be achieved if Mrs. Miracle was boring. Just watch the scene with Cody meeting the horses, and you can see Mrs. Miracle's Christmas magic at work. Christmas is magical and Mrs Miracle brought magic, love, forgiveness and friendship to a family in desperate need of all of those things. Well done!