The Miracle Club movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Miracle Club

This sweet movie will be released by Sony Pictures in theaters nationwide on July 14, 2023.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1 hour 31 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

This was a movie project 17 years in the making! Finally, all of the pieces came together for production and distribution.

Lourdes, France is known as a city of pilgrimage for miracles. In this story, some women of Ballygar, Ireland want to go there to taste freedom and miracles in their life.

The lovely film was directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan. Writing credits go to Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, and Jimmy Smallhorne.

THINGS I LIKED:

The cast is wonderful and includes Academy Award winners Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith, Stephen Rea, and Laura Linney. Others to round out the cast are Agnes O’Casey, Mark O’Halloran, Mark McKenna. We get to hear Kathy Bates sing!
I was excited to see this movie because it features so many incredible actresses and because we get to go to Ireland. I’m going there for the first time this summer!
We also get to go to beautiful Lourdes, France!
There’s some beautiful cinematography by John Conroy.
The mystery keeps us watching to figure out what caused the schism between certain characters.
The film does an excellent job illustrating how everyone is in search of some kind of healing, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual.
The movie meanders gently along with lovely music that perfectly supports each scene.
There is a sweet sense of sisterhood and friendship among the women in the story, each supporting one another.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Some of the accents are pretty thick, so it’s hard to understand what many of the characters say sometimes.
Almost all of the men in the movie are represented as awful misogynists or incapable dullards.
I would love to have seen more of both Ireland and France in the background of scenes. Both are such gorgeous countries.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be bored.
We see people in towels get into a bathtub.
There is talk of abortion and miscarriage.
People talk of someone who drowned in the sea.
No profanity.
We see a scene at a funeral.

THEMES:

Regrets
Family
Reconciliation
Hope
Miracles
Friendship
Faith
Guilt
Death
Healing
Peace
Forgiveness

FUNNY LINES:

“Go back to bed, Tommy. You’ll be safe there.” – Lily Fox (Maggie Smith)
“This must be what it’s like in a convent.” – Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates)
“There’s a miracle for her now: you, shopping!” – Eileen Dunne’s neighbor to her husband
“I think I had my miracle. I actually missed you.” – Eileen Dunne to her husband (Kathy Bates)

INTERESTING LINES:

“I guess there’s always hope, even when you don’t fully believe.” – Lily Fox (Maggie Smith)
“You don’t come to Lourdes for a miracle, Eileen. You come for the strength to go on when there is no miracle.” – Father Dermont Byrne (Mark O’Halloran)
“Why can’t people like us have miracles?” – Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates)