Courage (2009)

So, you tell no one where you are going? You hear a storm is coming and take no shelter in the 6 hours before it comes? How far are you sailing, there were plenty or islands to sail to to wait the storm out. You don't use the boat radio to try to contact anyone? You have no survival experience at all? You almost drown your husband/father running away from bear that isn't chasing you? But later this psycho bear decides to follow the people? And you don't hear the gigantic grizzly bear until it is 2 feet from you. That's a smart bear! There's a ferocious bear on the same island as ship wrecked people, but we'll wait an hour before even leaving to look for them. Let's see, what else... oh, the doctor's office reruns a pregnancy test? Why? Because those are wrong so often, right! Then gives the results to someone other than the patient? Sure. I think though what pisses me off the most is the wife saying now her mother has to wait to be a grandmother when she has been married to a man with a daughter for 2 years. Really? This woman couldn't have accepted and loved his daughter as her granddaughter? Now wonder the daughter can't accept her new stepmother if the stepmother and her mother don't accept the daughter.

The large grizzly bear was a terrific actor with super large teeth. The main actors were credible. The supporting actors were less credible. The plot was interesting to me, with the bear tracking the humans on a remote island located somewhere (undisclosed) in Puget Sound. Part of the interest for me was the location, as I live near Seattle. But honestly the plot themes were contrived. 1. A huge storm made the boat run aground. Since the island was shown as mountainous, it was hard for me to imagine such a storm on Puget Sound. The islands located on Puget Sound are not mountainous (but rugged). The extreme weather that made the boat run aground is not common here in Seattle. 2. I was not aware of grizzly bears living on any islands. The habitat on the islands is very limited -- there are no streams on the islands as shown in the movie. So for me, as a Native of Washington state, the location scenes didn't make sense.

Ugh. I probably should not watch any Lifetime movies where police are shown, since they invariably are shown to be incompetent.The premise here is that Robert (Priestly) and Teresa (Roth) along with daughter/step-daughter Christy go on a boating trip. Robert has written a book called How to Date a Brainy Woman. Despite being on a narrow river, a storm hits and they are in the middle of the ocean! Teresa is the namesake "brainy woman" who can do anything from maintain an SUV to CPR to starting a fire using a cell phone battery. Unfortunately, she can't figure out to use the marine radio on their basically intact boat that is 50 feet away from them, or to remain with the boat for rescue. The requisite females in jeopardy scene takes place about 53 minutes in, and it's not a psycho- it is a bear! Well they are on Bear Island after all. Instead, they place Robert, who has a damaged leg, onto a litter and decide to pull him... somewhere else through the woods.Meanwhile, Teresa's mom, played by an actress too young to be her mom (13 year age gap), tries to report the family missing after they have not been seen for a day and a half. She goes and talks to the "Chief", who is wearing a uniform that says Sheriff's Department- here's a clue for Canadian script writers- in the US, the head of a Sheriff's Department is the Sheriff, not the Chief. The Chief blows her off, and says she needs to wait longer. The Chief is an imbecile. Apparently he has never been sued for negligence. My review title is one of the dumber lines in the movie, spoken by deputy Blondie, who is actually the smartest officer in the movie. It illustrates why no search delay would take place. Mom gets the good news that Teresa is pregnant! We learn the bear is being tracked by Deputy Dumb-Ass and a tracker dude, who tells deputy D-A to fire off a couple of rounds into the air. Why? Things come to a head with about 15 minutes left. Teresa is again in jeopardy from the bear after she has another less than brainy idea to go off for help on her own. Deputy D-A and the tracker see the bear, and feedback from the radio scares it away. The Coast Guard shows up at the crash site, and Christy takes a flaming branch (at least until she gets to a creek) to go back where they started. She and Robert are rescued by the Coast Guard. Teresa hits the trifecta for females in jeopardy with only 7 minutes left. Deputy D-A and the tracker lost the bear, but she found it. Then they find her and the bear, but tracker says not to fire, you might hit her- even though she was not in the line of fire. Just when I thought I was out of goofs, the tracker has the bear attack him and Deputy D-A with rifle in hand does NOTHING. He could have literally held the muzzle of the rifle to the head of the bear and killed it. Apparently the bear prefers blondes, and goes after Teresa. He finally ganks the bear after it again threatens Teresa. I think she has the record for females in jeopardy for a Lifetime movie. Maybe Deputy D-A and the "Chief" can find new jobs after the lawsuit.At the end we see Robert's book was a success, and presumably months later Teresa appears to be very pregnant- a big belly and big boobs- although it is likely a combination of a prosthetic belly, a push-up bra, and high heels- she is now several inches taller than Robert (Roth and Priestly are about the same height). A trivia point here is that Roth in fact gave birth to her first child in March 2010, so she was likely pregnant during filming.Robert's next book should be titled How to Date an Attractive 40-Something Canadian Actress, as it would be a more accurate title than the one here.The movie is a succession of more plot holes than the LMN usual. 3/10 on the regular movie scale (higher=better), 8/10 on the Lifetime movie scale (higher=dumber). It was a 7/10 until the last 6 minutes thanks to Deputy D-A not shooting the bear.

Family in Danger is the top for "Courage," a 2009 Lifetime movie starring Jason Priestley, Andrea Roth, and Genevieve Buechner. Priestley plays a widower named Robert who has remarried Teresa (Roth). He is also an author who has written a book, "How To Date Brainy Women." Naturally his teenage daughter Christy (Buechner) is a resentful brat who doesn't like Teresa.Robert suggests the family head for Bear Lake in their boat. A huge storm comes up, and Robert disappears. The two women find him, but they have pretty much wrecked the boat, and Robert has an infection in one leg and the other leg is broken. Teresa retrieves their supplies from the boat.It turns out that Robert is married to Superwoman. She builds fires from cell phone batteries, she makes a stretcher when they have to move Robert, she applies first aid to him. You name it, she does it. I'm surprised she couldn't repair the boat. Give her some gum and I'll bet she could have done it.Nature in the form of a grizzly bear is their enemy, and the family finds itself trying to escape him.This movie is completely predictable and somehow, the womens' hair looked pretty good after a storm and roughing it. Jason Priestley basically lies around being sick. I saw him at a restaurant once greeting what were obviously a family of old friends. He seemed very sweet and he's short.Despite its predictability, I have to say it was entertaining. The acting was nothing special, but Andrea Roth is very likable, as is Priestley. How he didn't lose that infected leg is a miracle.