Wow! What a great family and faith-based film. This is a terrific movie for churches to screen. I enjoyed this one. For one thing, the actors can act and sad to say not all Christian films have that ingredient. Number two, it mixed the trials and tests of a family and those around them with some genuine humor. I don’t laugh out loud at movies very often and I did with this one a couple of times as did my wife who screened it with me. And the message, to have faith and not fear, is a message which is needed more than ever in today’s world.
Lisa Arnold co-wrote, stars in and directed this film along with Jeremiah Fry and she does all three with an artistic hand. She gives us characters that are real, much more than cardboard cut-outs. The film begins with the loss of a woman named Emma Abbott’s husband and subsequently is about how she and her two grown children cope with life afterwards. Initially she is depressed and doesn’t want to get out of bed but her children, Jude and Sophie, help bring her around. Ultimately, following a job loss, she moves to New Orleans from Atlanta to be close to Sophie, who is attending college, and she meets an old high school flame, Pastor J, which stands for John. She and Pastor J date but although she has feelings for him, she deals with “letting go” of her life with her deceased husband.
The film features some funny moments including Emma’s daughter Sophie and her friends “spying” on Mom to see who this new man is who has come into her life. It is an inspiring film which features warm and hopeful characters such as an elderly lady named Mary, who lost her husband and eventually remarried and tells Emma, “I started over at 75.”
Ultimately the theme of faith and not walking in fear prevails in this wonderful family movie. It is an inspiring and remarkable and well-made film. Although the very young might not enjoy it as much as older children, this is one you can view with your entire family and its realistic story and relevant themes will inspire. It also manages to include the adoption of two girls which many people who love children will appreciate. We gladly award this terrific movie five Doves, our highest rating. See it soon. You won’t regret it.
