Daniel's Daughter (2008)

To me, this movie is perfection.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

In 1982 New Kerry, Massachusetts, young Cate's life is turned upside-down when her mother died. She is sent away to live with relatives. It's 2008. Cate Madighan (Laura Leighton) is a high powered magazine editor in NYC. She's preparing to marry older media tycoon Stewart who doesn't want any more kids. She is sent a music box from her father and a letter asking her to scatter his ashes in New Kerry. She is flustered and reluctantly goes on the quest with her assistant Jeffrey. She reconnects with childhood friend. She has to patch up estranged friends Cavanaugh and Donahue for her father. She falls for small town lawyer Connor Bailey.It's big city girl who discovers small town charms. There is some functional personal drama. The romantic leads are solid but there is limited heat. The childhood friend could have been a great character but they need a higher caliber actress. The two old geezers could be fun but they don't go there. There is no edge to the dialog and no tension in the drama. This is rather predictable and flat.

Appealing television film where a woman, engaged to an older man, finds sudden love when her estranged father dies and she returns to the town of her birth to scatter his ashes.Angered over the fact that her father never came back to her, after the death of her mother, the embittered young woman returns to show that she is the better person than he is.While in this small Massachusetts town, she finds romance as well as her friend, married to a man consumed by weather reports, and her dad's friends feuding.This is a story of 2 people falling in love and the realization that life is more than just working.

This is a made-for-TV movie and we saw it on the Hallmark channel this week. It is about an ambitious and successful young woman who is a magazine editor, and is also engaged to be married to an older wealthy businessman who, among other things, owns the magazine. They seem to have "consistent goals" but we, the audience, don't see any passion in their relationship. It resembles a business relationship.Just turned 40 Laura Leighton is 30-something Cate Madighan, never married, bright and successful business woman. We see in a flashback scene that after her mother died when Cate was only 9, her dad put her with relatives so she could grow up properly. He vowed to return to her, and told her to write in her journal every day, and she could read the entries to him when he returned.But dad never returned and Cate meanwhile pursued her career in New York City. When she got the news her dad had died, she was sad, but the story really kicked into motion when her dad's ashes showed up in her office, along with the request that she scatter them at a certain place on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, while two old friends sang an Irish song.Cate wanted no part of this, but then decided that she didn't want to follow her dad's lead, and be non-responsive, so she traveled to complete his final request.This is not a particularly novel story, but the actors are good to watch.SPOILERS: The trip "back home" opened Cate's eyes to a number of things. Her dad cared for her more than she ever realized after reading letters he had written to his friends. She also met Sebastian Spence as Connor Bailey, who had traveled the world then settled back in this small community to practice law because that was more important to him. Connor and Cate became good friends, then more. Cate realized she did NOT want to live the life she and the older man had outlined, including NO CHILDREN. It looked like she and Connor were destined to become a couple. A side story was Cate's need to settle an old feud between the two old friends so that they would agree to sing together again. Connor was helpful in that resolution.

While slightly predictable, Daniel's Daughter is a sleepy and sweet drama focusing on finding the peace with past and present decisions. High powered New York Magazine editor Cate Madighan (Laura Leighton) is living the good life - great job, a marriage on the cards and plenty of wealth but her life as she knows it comes crashing down when she gets news of her father's passing. Having abandoned her as a child, Cate plans on heading to her home town for a brief visit to tie up loose ends only to find herself drawn in by old friends, new love interests and the last wishes of her dead father which make Cate question her current life back in New York.