I had never heard of this movie before it was on TV, and I watched it because Linda Hamilton was in it, there was nothing better on, and I had not seen it before. It is intended as a warm family film, but it addresses a recent and sudden death of a father figure that was greatly loved by his family. But his death reveals a hidden life he had before his family. It is a bizarre backdrop for such a heavy family trauma, but it could work with a warm family spirit with a happy resolution. It starts out interesting with a lot of quirky townsfolk and estranged family, and has some funny ingredients like children who can fly, special healing powers, and animals that play roles for turning points in characters and comic relief. Other great elements are breathtaking scenery that makes you want to move there, allusions to long histories of travelers, and ethnic references to Irish tinkerers, but much of the initially interesting story lines become derivative and irrelevant. Many of the interpersonal situations are not detailed, and leave more than too much to the viewer's imagination (many implied themes are appropriate, but too many lead to varied conclusions by each viewer and breaks the continuity of the story). Each viewer should take what they want from the story, but ultimately, it reveals a story of a family who feel they are lost when the father dies, and can only become more lost as they try to learn more about the father's past. The ultimate story of this family is not really what the movie is about, but rather about how losing the life you know is horrible and traumatic, but it doesn't mean you can't create a new one instead of trying to search endlessly for one that you really don't know to replace it. This is not a crime thriller movie, so details do not need to be accurate, logical, or believable. Use your imagination, and stay focused on the emotional theme this movie communicates.
9 Reviews
Use your imagination, and stay focused on the emotional theme this movie communicates.
jtighe-631 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Like watching a train wreck
mama_sudi2 February 2005
Bailey's mistake started out as a quirky little movie, but went downhill fast. I've never seen so much angst in my life. Joan Plowright was very good as the matriarch of a magical band of misfits. Linda Hamilton spent 90% of the time in tears and her kids were just plain bratty. OK, OK, mine are too, but this was extreme. Granted it is somewhat like a normal depiction of real life, but please, I don't want to watch tears for over an hour on a good day. That's why soaps are only an hour long. There were some moments that were good, even funny. Like my summary states: you have to keep watching even though you know you shouldn't. You just keep hoping against hope that this gets better. Good points: Scenery is breathtaking, an Irish brogue is delightful to hear. Kept waiting for something like River Dance to break out. Unfortunately it didn't.
a morality play with some ambiguities.
jxca-la-crois31 October 2004
Warning: Spoilers
This comment contains spoilers.
Having read the other comments, I for once felt compelled to add my own. This is a film that starts off like any run-of-the-mill movie of the week, but soon develops into an off-beat story. I will not bore you with a plot summary, since others have done that for me, but I will state my opinion.
This film opens up a number of story lines and doesn't neatly finish them all. This, to me, is a good thing, not the sign of a bad story. The comments by the others before me seem to focus on plot holes and unexplained things, but I actually find that to be the strength of this movie. I do not see why every loose end needs to be tied up. So the kid sees the devil's tail on Mr. Lenox. Why does that need to be determined to be true or not. To this island's people, Lenox is the devil, whether he is so in real life or not. There are, however, plenty of things to suggest that he may indeed be the devil. He owns land on three sides of the church and wants to own the cemetery, which would presumably get rid of the church and the only official bastion of the faith altogether. He seems to fear Dylan when he finds out that the kid has the same gift as his father, and there are a couple more hints. The only thing that puzzled me, though it may just be me, is the goat. Traditionally, a goat is a sign of the devil, but this one seems to be drawn to Becca, and seems to have nothing to do with Lenox whatsoever. As I stated before, the film is most like a morality play, and it follows that structure quite neatly. Mrs Donovan comes to the island where there is a balance between good and evil and upsets this balance by wanting to part with the land she owns, being part of that balance. She is tempted by the devil (if you will), but Dylan, her son, sees Lenox for who he truly is and we discover in due course that Dylan, like his father, seems to have been put there to fight the good fight. The aforementioned fear or mistrust Lenox has towards Dylan seems to confirm that. There is of course the mention of the islanders "being travellers who believe they descend from the blacksmith who made the nails for Jesus' cross", which ties in nicely with Dylan's gift being possibly divine and a counterbalance to those people's original sin (if you will, again). Once again, there are a number of things that either don't add up or are left to the imagination of the viewer, but to me that makes it an all the more charming film.
Having read the other comments, I for once felt compelled to add my own. This is a film that starts off like any run-of-the-mill movie of the week, but soon develops into an off-beat story. I will not bore you with a plot summary, since others have done that for me, but I will state my opinion.
This film opens up a number of story lines and doesn't neatly finish them all. This, to me, is a good thing, not the sign of a bad story. The comments by the others before me seem to focus on plot holes and unexplained things, but I actually find that to be the strength of this movie. I do not see why every loose end needs to be tied up. So the kid sees the devil's tail on Mr. Lenox. Why does that need to be determined to be true or not. To this island's people, Lenox is the devil, whether he is so in real life or not. There are, however, plenty of things to suggest that he may indeed be the devil. He owns land on three sides of the church and wants to own the cemetery, which would presumably get rid of the church and the only official bastion of the faith altogether. He seems to fear Dylan when he finds out that the kid has the same gift as his father, and there are a couple more hints. The only thing that puzzled me, though it may just be me, is the goat. Traditionally, a goat is a sign of the devil, but this one seems to be drawn to Becca, and seems to have nothing to do with Lenox whatsoever. As I stated before, the film is most like a morality play, and it follows that structure quite neatly. Mrs Donovan comes to the island where there is a balance between good and evil and upsets this balance by wanting to part with the land she owns, being part of that balance. She is tempted by the devil (if you will), but Dylan, her son, sees Lenox for who he truly is and we discover in due course that Dylan, like his father, seems to have been put there to fight the good fight. The aforementioned fear or mistrust Lenox has towards Dylan seems to confirm that. There is of course the mention of the islanders "being travellers who believe they descend from the blacksmith who made the nails for Jesus' cross", which ties in nicely with Dylan's gift being possibly divine and a counterbalance to those people's original sin (if you will, again). Once again, there are a number of things that either don't add up or are left to the imagination of the viewer, but to me that makes it an all the more charming film.
Confusing film full of inconsistencies
akemeyer20 April 2001
Granted, as this was a "Wonderful World of Disney" film, my expectations were not high before even viewing this. But in the past at least most films by Disney at least made some logical sense. No such luck with this turkey and it left me with many unanswered questions, flying children, electrified wooden picket fences and underwear chomping goats aside. Clueless woman discovers after the death of hubby that he blew their lifesavings on an island?!? And she didn't know? First of all, that alone is a stretch but to find out that he had lied to her about his entire background and upbringing as well was unbelievable. Linda Hamilton plays the wife, Mrs. Donavan like she is sleep-walking instead of the boiling anger most women would feel to discover their entire marriage was a lie. She goes to Bailey's Mistake, Maine to see what she has inherited and exactly how fast she can dump it. She meets her late husbands family, featuring more quirks and oddballs than the daily dose on the Springer show. Predictably they want her to hang onto the property so they can continue to live there but Liz wants to sell it to the local devil/rich guy/landowner (Kyle Secor playing Lowell Lennox, he seems to be phoning in his performance from a great distance) so he can put in a golf course. The rest of the film follows a oh so preposterous, predictable course, the locals persuade her to sell to them and they tell Mr. Lennox (the Devil) to take a hike and go eat more Oreos. And we STILL don't know what the deal is with the goat. Since this production was filled with excellent actors such as Joan Plowright, Kyle Secor and Linda Hamilton I expected better but never underestimate the power of mediocrity.
Bailey's Mistake A Major Blunder *
edwagreen3 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
What a miserable film to view.
A woman loses her 42 year old to a coronary while jogging and soon finds out that he bought cemetery property in Maine. While this is upsetting to begin with, what follows really a reach of the imagination and utterly ridiculous.
The woman and her 2 children, the teenage girl who couldn't go to her dad's funeral and precocious 9 year old son, venture to Maine. There they find in a small Maine town, a bunch of relatives who almost act like the Beverly Hillbillies. Their matriarch is Joan Plowright who calls everyone dear at the end of each of her sentences. There is a cat that is lactose intolerant.
Turns out that the deceased dad belonged to this brood and that he had magical powers. What is this guy, a male Mary Poppins? After a while, the young lad is flying around with his dead dad. Please, enough is enough!
A woman loses her 42 year old to a coronary while jogging and soon finds out that he bought cemetery property in Maine. While this is upsetting to begin with, what follows really a reach of the imagination and utterly ridiculous.
The woman and her 2 children, the teenage girl who couldn't go to her dad's funeral and precocious 9 year old son, venture to Maine. There they find in a small Maine town, a bunch of relatives who almost act like the Beverly Hillbillies. Their matriarch is Joan Plowright who calls everyone dear at the end of each of her sentences. There is a cat that is lactose intolerant.
Turns out that the deceased dad belonged to this brood and that he had magical powers. What is this guy, a male Mary Poppins? After a while, the young lad is flying around with his dead dad. Please, enough is enough!
Not worth watching
EPMD5727 June 2021
I couldn't finish it. It started slow, got a bit weird, but not in a good way, and then I realized there wasn't anything in the story to keep me watching.
If you ever stumble across this on YouTube or elsewhere, give it a miss.
If you ever stumble across this on YouTube or elsewhere, give it a miss.
No Matter What Other Opinions Are:
rebeccaram3925 February 2006
Well I watched this movie today on TV. And thought i wanted this is a movie i can watch over again with no problem couldn't get the name of movie. So got on here to look for Linda Hamilton. For movies she has done. The comment that was made for it. I thought was totally wrong. Everyday there is something or someone that makes no sense. So for there views that everything in movie needed a reason. No i disagree. It was done the way it should of been. And obviously the person who had wrote the comment on it,thought of guidelines of movies of today. But movies from past always had those characteristics. So it was nicely done. And one i will want to see over again.
Great family movie
markdta26 July 2023
A really cute movie, has plot twists.,strange people,humor. Linda Hamilton does a good job playing a widow lost as to what to.do next and watches as her children struggle along with her. Then they arrive on the island.and meet an assortment of strange people. Soon they begin to put the pieces together as to why their father/husband has such a strong bond to the island and the people who live there. A good movie to watch with kids, will never win big awards for the movie or the actors , but is really worth your time to watch it . The movie is hard to find sure sure !!! I saw it on regular cable TV and now cant find it.
Who is daddy, really?
vr6629 March 2001
I missed the first 15mins.. but a widow with two kids goes to the father's home town of Bailey's Mistake and the more questions she asks, the more confused she gets (and the more frustrated WE get!) The kids come across a goat that will NOT leave them alone... flying children, healing powers.. an adult neighbor with a tail. A few things are revealed... but not enough by the ending. I think it's a movie about finding your roots and finding a home to call your own with friends. No matter how oddball. It is a very nice movie.. But not one I would have chosen to pay to see if it was in theater. A good idea, but not up to Disney's usual standards of making sense.
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