For a movie with the word 'miracle' in the title, there is little to support the idea. Irish village priest Father Dermot (Mark O'Halloran) attests to that fact when he states to a disappointed Eileen Dunne (Kathy Bates) - "You go for the strength to go on when there is no miracle" - after the matronly woman comes away from her dip in the bath at Lourdes without assurance that a lump on her chest has been removed. I felt the movie was awkward at times, especially when Bates' character had that meltdown in the church and started berating the priest and her friends. It was very unseemly, and even though she apologized the next day, she didn't take any of it back. And then, the admission by Lily Fox (Maggie Smith) to Chrissie Ahearn (Laura Linney) that she withheld her own son's avowal of love for Chrissie after the woman became pregnant and left for America struck me as a confession for the deaths of two people, her son and the baby in Chrissie's womb. It's said 'to forgive is divine' but that just struck me as a horrible thing to do and then seek forgiveness for. So, if you're watching this movie and expecting some 'aha' moment to justify the premise, you'll probably be disheartened. Even the young boy Daniel's (Eric D. Smith) finally uttering a single word is done in solitude with no witnesses, preventing the film from having even an upbeat ending.
Review of The Miracle Club
