Midway to Heaven (2011)

I really wanted to like this movie. I liked the concept of a middle-aged man finding love again but the movie centers around a middle-aged man who lost his wife trying to breakup his daughters relationship with "over-the-top" do gooder. The acting is cringeworthy as well as a lot of the writing. I don't like how a lot of these Christian movies push marriage super young on girls. The daughter isn't even 21 yet and wants to get married? That's crazy to me. The boyfriend David is like 22-23. I just can't get past that. I can be emotional during movies but not one moment did I "feel" anything. This is probably a cliche enough movie to get into a lot of people's soft spots but it missed the mark with me.

My husband & I watched this last night and were debating tonight whether it was the worst movie we have ever seen. And we even accept and love some of the worst Christian local-church-made movies. We've seen worse acting, but not too many times. We've seen worse story lines...wait a minute, this really didn't have a story line. Our belief is that someone lost a spouse, wrote about losing the spouse, and had enough money to then turn his book into a movie. Because no one with pride in his or her (movie-making) craft would pick this up to turn it into a movie. It may help widows and widowers get past some difficulties, but...it is not for general consumption on what you hope to be an entertaining or deep-thinking movie night. My husband wants me to add, "The scenery was pretty."

I would have been able to tolerate this film if the main character (Ned) didn't talk to his dead wife in every other scene. These scenes were not only annoying (with the overtly perky dead wife) but they were also Biblically inaccurate. The Bible says in Ecc. 9:5 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing." The acting was below average and the storyline was rather weak. And it really wasn't a faith-based film (as another reviewer suggested); no-one prayed or every even visited a church, no mention of Jesus and the only character with a hint of Christian values was not really developed. Over all, this film fell flat. Truly disappointed.

"Midway to Heaven" has a better than average story line setting up some very touching and humorous moments that most any audience looking for a thoughtful, romantic story should be able to identify with. The challenge of letting go of a deep relationship in order to move forward in life is handled, for the most part, very skillfully by Michael Flynn in his debut behind the camera as a director. All of the main actors sparkle in their roles, making you care about the challenges they are facing. While there are many funny moments to relish, it is the touching moments that make this a better than average romantic film. The music, scripting (from Dean Hughes novel), photography and music all blend well to make the film work. The beautiful Utah scenery of small towns is also a great asset. This is a film worthy of seeing in a theatre if you are fortunate enough to live in an area where it will be screened. It's one that I will look forward to purchasing on DVD later.