Sony Pictures Classics
Small miracles might happen in rekindling relationships in The Miracle Club, but even three, earnest Irish gals can’t miraculously save this slow paced drama.
This new drama from Sony Classics finds three great actresses - Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith - travelling together as estranged neighbours in 1960s Dublin as a church group going to Lourdes, France.
What starts as an attractive premise for a meaningful drama about change, hope, and facing the mistakes of our past is sadly washed away into a poorly kept mystery of how these women grew out of touch, only to reconnect again.
There are several shots of characters looking at photographs, deep in contemplation. But we the audience have no context or explanation on what the stakes are for whatever they’re thinking about, meaning we the audience are left in the dark on the relevancy of what we’re watching.
Linney stars as Chrissie, back from America after 40 years being away, with her friend turned sour enemy Eileen (Bates) and her former neighbour Lily (Smith). Most of the plot is a dragged out, half-hearted tease of why Chrissie left and depriving the audience from knowing the source of animosity between Chrissie and everyone else.
That waiting is annoying, but’s it’s made worse by brutally slow pacing in conversations and filler scenes before and during the trip. There’s maybe 40 minutes of meaningful material stretched into an hour and a half long film.
All three main players, however, bring charm and focus to tender and otherwise simple characters. Bates especially has an impressive Irish accent - but she also drops it by accident 10 minutes into the movie when she starts singing, now unexplainably in a perfect American voice.
Other than that, the cast is well coached and each know how to balance the sentimentality of The Miracle Club’s thin, slow script. It would be a miracle if something more interesting could happen to these great female actors and their stories.
The Miracle Club
5 out of 10
PG, 1hr 31mins. Drama.
Directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan.
Starring Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas.
