Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Miracle

I like Rachel Boston in almost everything I've seen her in. I'm not sure she is right for Mrs. Merkle. She is too young and pretty. I was almost waiting for one of the brothers to fall for her. Or maybe it's just because Doris Roberts was perfect. Also, in the previous Mrs Miracle movies there was a logical reason for her to be there. In this one she is an "estate planner" who no one questions. She produces a piece of paper that was supposedly signed by the deceased grandmother but no one checks to see if the signature is real or if it was notarized. The granddaughter is a lawyer but does no checking. Neither brother does either so they give her free rein of the estate.

Also, what woman who runs a successful company would not plan her successor to ensure that the family company would be well run and leave it up to the three grandchildren to decide among themselves? They all are in competition for the board seat but what about the property and other assets. There is plenty to go around so even the black sheep brother wouldn't have to worry.

I know it's a movie but those plot points were distracting.

I thought the acting was fine. It is nice to see some new faces at Hallmark. The little boy was so natural. I'm sure we will see more of him. Rachel Boston's portrayal grew on me by the end but I still would have liked to see a more mature actress in the part. Beverly Elliott who plays the housekeeper would have been a better fit.

All in all it was a pleasant movie if you can ignore the plot holes.

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.

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.

If you start this movie thinking that Rachel Boston might be a decade or two too young to play the titular Mrs Miracle but the happiest and bubbliest of all the Hallmark actresses will have you reassessing that about five minutes in. She is fantastic. Not Doris Roberts quality - but, honestly, who is? - but very, very close. She takes the role and makes it her own with a blend of humour, joy and whimsy.

Sent to put a fractured family back together, Mrs Miracle has a lot of work to do, and she does it with aplomb. There's gooey Hallmark Christmas sentimentality by the truckload here...and it works.

One of 2024's best.

One of Hallmark's best, full stop.

A worthy entry in the Mrs Miracle franchise. Here's hoping there will be many more.

The Dan and Shay soundtrack was wonderful in this entry of Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle. Three contentious siblings have to agree when their grandmother passes leaving the estate to the three...but only if they agree unanimously. "A lawyer, a money man and a shady guy" are the descriptions of the three siblings who haven't been in a room together since they were young...and add in a star-crossed lovers story between the lawyer, Charlotte, and one of "the help". Each arrives to spend Christmas at the family estate with their own individual agenda. Mrs. Moorehouse's estate seems to be in real trouble until the perpetually positive estate planner Mrs. Miracle arrives.

"So many hidden gems to be found in these old houses. I can't wait to see what we are going to discover."

The only person who seems to be able to figure Mrs. Miracle out is Charlotte's young autistic son Cody.

The house is lovely, filled with gorgeous antiques...but the real treasure is Rachel Boston. She and Tanner Novlan make this film. Tanner Novlan holds the cast down as the sensible everyman who was invaluable to the grandmother before her passing. A job he inherited from his father, the former estate manager.

"Antiques are my game, but Christmas is where I thrive!"-Mrs. Miracle

The real bickering is over the family company's board seat. "What were the previous owner's wishes?"

"Christmas is the perfect time for forgiveness."-Mrs. Miracle

Wonderful sentiments are abound in this holiday centric hallmark film that is not just about forgiving, but healing, letting go, and finding one's purpose.