Nora Roberts’ Montana Sky (2007)

Simply A Masterpiece

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I am a Huge Nora Robert's fan. I have read just about all her books over and over. I liked the movies, but like others disappointed in stuff that was left out and how things were changed. I also understand that a movie made from a book is never going to be the same, or give the same affect. But There was some important stuff left out in the relationships that the sister's were having with each other and with the guys in there lives. Wish they could have taken better care in the way they filmed some of the important clues/crimes that were committed. I would watch this again but highly prefer the book for a more in depth look into the whole story.

I've read the book and of course the book was so much better. However, putting aside that fact, I found this movie lacked....appeal. It was very hurried, which is expected for a 90 minute flick, but it had no, depth to the film. There have been many adaptations from novels to movies that have been wonderful. If this movie had its own zeal and personality, I don't think I would complain about the way it was done. However, it was very...damsel in distress, no brains, and kind of dull. If the chemistry was better, if the actresses added more personality I think it would have been brilliant. I've been looking forward to these movies since I heard they were coming out. I'm not saying this movie was terrible or anything, I am not saying "well the book was like this," I'm just saying it was dull.

So I just finished reading the book yesterday when I noticed that Lifetime would be airing the movie, I thought oh that's perfect. Unfortunately I was VERY disappointed. The writers of the movie took out a lot of what made the book wonderful, the characters didn't fit what the book wrote about them, I mean Corbett as Ben, his age alone prevents him from being the person wrote about in the book, his acting was fine. They had the sisters all wrong, the women who played Lily should have been Willa or Tess and Willa should have been Lily. The casting truly was a mess! Overall the actors didn't do horribly they just didn't fit the parts they were playing. Another HUGE problem was that the movie moved to quickly and either changed some of the best moments in the book or left them completely out! It's sad to say that I liked Beach Girls a heck of a lot better than Montana Sky as far as a movie goes, at least it stuck to some of what the book wrote. Perhaps 2 hours just wasn't long enough to do justice to a truly wonderful book.

I wondered how they were going to pack all of Roberts' truly great 'Montana Sky' into two hours. Sad to say, they couldn't.The basic premise packed three relationships, four, counting the sisters themselves, over a year's time, along with all the mysterious happenings within that period. Only the barest of bones of the story were touched on and even those were rewritten and reworked. Other than the names of the characters, hardly anything, including the events, how they unfolded, and how they were resolved, resembled the original story.As to the actors: Both Laura Mennell as 'Lila' and Charlotte Ross as 'Tess' fit the concept I had of them, but although Ashely Williams did a wonderful job, I couldn't see her as the 'Willa' I imagined in the book. I so adore John Corbett, he was one of the reasons I looked forward to the movie. He had the perfect personality for 'Ben', though in real life he's a good ten years or more older than the character he portrayed. I guess it made sense that 'Nate's' occupation was changed from lawyer to sheriff and Aaron Pearl was good in the re-scripted role. Nathaniel Arcand played a convincing 'Adam'.I couldn't help but think as I read 'Montana Sky', then watched it, that the novel would have been much better adapted to a mini-series. It would have allowed the characters and the events to be fleshed out and evolve as they deserved. In comparison, Angels Fall made a much better transition from book to screen in that it didn't have as much ground to cover and could afford to have some parts dropped without losing the essence of the story.