I liked this movie a lot. I loved how faith-based this movie was, and was amazed that the powers that be actually allowed this movie to reach the light of day. Even on Hallmark, whose core audience are largely believers, this is amazing in 2023. It gives me a little hope that God is not totally dead in movies.
I loved the message about being grateful for your blessings. Through the simple device of the blessing bracelet, this movie echoed the timeless truth that your happiness isn't so much dependent on what you have or don't have, but on being grateful for the things that you do have. I liked how the simple act of gratitude led our heroine Dawn and many others to increased happiness and increased faith in God. I'm glad that she realized the value of being part of a community of believers. These are invaluable lessons.
The romance part of the story was done well. There was chemistry between Dawn and Ben and the relationship between them seemed very natural and unforced. Ben was extremely likable. He never wavered from his good guy persona. I like that Dawn went for a good guy rather than a bad boy. I also like that the movie avoided the silly, forced, initial combativeness between the two that seems to be the staple of most rom-coms. It is possible to just meet someone and like them right away without being their quasi-enemy first. I also appreciated that they avoided the typical, awkward, mid-movie, almost-kiss, which is interrupted by something. Instead, they had a nice mid-movie hug, followed later by a real, uninterrupted kiss that felt much more natural.
This was such a nice, feel-good movie with such a good message that I feel bad criticizing it at all, but sadly, I must. A lot of the plot points in this movie were just not handled well by the screenwriters. Dawn was just so hell-bent on making it on her own and so unwilling to swallow her pride and accept help, that it seemed unrealistic. Her parents offered to help her at the beginning of the movie so she didn't lose her house, and she refused them? Really? She couldn't have taken a loan from her own parents, rather than ending up homeless? And then later, her ex-husband returned to the picture, wanted to make amends and offered her a $10,000 check, and she refused him? Wow! I'm not sure why he wasn't paying her child support the whole time, and why that wasn't even mentioned, but I'd say the $10,000 should have been accepted by her as a down payment on back child support. I also didn't like how she was in the church one minute, talking to God about how she needed to forgive, and then, when she had the perfect opportunity, with her ex showing up and apologizing profusely, she refused to forgive him. What a wasted opportunity by the screenwriters to hammer home the importance of forgiveness! There were other little things that bugged me, such as how Mister supposedly compassionate banker Ben, when given the opportunity to show some compassion and extend the terms of Dawn's loan, just said no. Or how Ben unilaterally bought the store and set Dawn up for her own business without even asking her (with no explanation where he got the money for that). Or how Dawn continued to rely on free labor from the church to manufacture her blessing bracelets. The first time, they were helping her out of a bind because of her financial situation. The second time, when it became clear that this was to be a profitable business, she should have started paying employees to make those bracelets instead of taking advantage of free labor from the church. Sorry, these are things that made the story less enjoyable for me. I just wish the screenwriters had taken a little more time to polish their story and get rid of these rough edges.
I hope it doesn't sound like I didn't like this movie, because I did. It was a wonderful, feel-good, faith-based movie, the type they should be making more often, and the type we should be supporting. I definitely recommend it.
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