Ordinary Miracles (2005)

The Worst Film Ever

Good concept, poorly executed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

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

Kay Woodbury (Jaclyn Smith) is a no nonsense workaholic San Diego judge. Troubled foster kid Sally Powell (Lyndsy Fonseca) comes before her court. Her foster parents terminate foster care. With nowhere to go, Kay sends her to juvenile corrections facility. Kay's ex-husband David Woodbury (Corbin Bernsen) is getting remarried. She's estranged from her father over a case she presided over. Case worker Miranda (Sarah Aldrich) pleads for Sally. Kay decides to be her temporary guardian while she's on her yearly three weeks recess. Sally is having nightmares and Kay asks her neighbor psychiatrist Dr. Michael Katsu for help. Sally steals Kay's jewelry and plans to runaway with her boyfriend Pete Smalling to San Francisco. It's not enough and he tells her to steal more. Kay discovers the identity of Sally's father James Powell (C. Thomas Howell) and hires him for landscaping.This is a Hallmark movie. The story is pretty much lots of personal melodrama. The production is mostly TV movie level. The most compelling aspect in this is Jaclyn Smith. It's always nice to see this TV legend. She has aged very well. There's a younger Lyndsy Fonseca doing a good job as the moody troubled teen. This is basically what you expect from a Hallmark TV movie and nothing more than that.

Ordinary Miracles is a TV movie on Hallmark Channel that features Jaclyn Smith,Lyndsy Fonseca and C. Thomas Howell together with Sarah Aldrich,Corbin Bernsen and Erik Eidem.The film was about a troubled teen that is scooped up by a tough San Diego judge whose conscience causes her to bring the girl home with her to live when together they face tons of insecurities and personal problems to forge a special bond in this tale of survival, love and family.It was directed by Michael Switzer.Kay Woodbury is a tough, no-nonsense judge whose intractability in legal matters is intensified by a number of personal crises, including a bitter feud with her jurist father and her anguish over the recent remarriage of her ex-husband. Thus, Kay is no mood to play nice when teenager Sally Powell is brought before her. Harboring an intense hatred for the father who apparently abandoned her, Sally is a seemingly incorrigible delinquent who has already sent away from four foster homes. Figuring that she could no worse than anyone else, Kay takes Sally home on a trial basis. The girl proceeds to behave as atrociously as possible, but surprisingly Kay does not decide to write her off as a bad job, but instead concludes that what the girl needs is someone to trust and something to believe in. In this spirit, Kay locates Sally's birth father and upon being convinced that he was not motivated by selfishness when he dropped out of his daughter's life, secretly contrives for Sally and her dad to reconnect.In so doing, Kay finds her own way toward forgiveness, not only of those whom she feels have wronged her, but also of herself. This TV movie is an entertaining character study between two people who learn from each other.In this case,it is a judge and a juvenile delinquent.It is a good drama and well-acted one especially with Jaclyn Smith playing Judge Kay Woodbury. Don't miss it on DVD whenever you get an opportunity to rent it.

The Conservatives must have had a field day in bashing this movie where a liberal judge takes home a foster girl who just about everyone has given up on.The story is the relationship that develops between both of these people, while the girl's miserable boyfriend encourages her to steal jewelry from the judge so that they can both flee and rid themselves of foster homes permanently.If this isn't enough, the judge, played admirably by Jaclyn Smith, finds the father, a widower, who couldn't cope following the tragic death of his wife when Sally was 3. The judge makes believe that she wants him services for landscaping before she tells him the truth.Even with this obvious liberal bias, this film was extremely well done. The performances are first rate,notably Jaclyn Smith and Lyn Fonseca as the troubled child she takes in.I guess that the judge saw the Spencer Tracy-Mickey Rooney 1938 classic-Boys Town. Remember, there is no such thing as a bad boy. Everyone has redeeming qualities.

Hallmark is known for showing excellent movies. This one in particular was very good. I would think that it's about family and finding a place where you belong. Sally is this beautiful and bright girl who hides behind dark makeup and dark clothes because of the disappointment of being rejected four times as a foster child. Jaclyn Smith plays the character, Kay, who is a Judge and takes Sally in and finds the courage to bring her into her life. She encounters the swift announcement of her ex-husband getting remarried and is dealing with a straining relationship with her father due to a request that could have jeopardized her career all the while trying to handle this troubled young girl who only longs to belong. The bond between them slowly grows and is challenged when Kay finally locates Sally's father, a landscaper, and employs him for a task in her home without revealing to Sally who he really is. Once she finds out, she runs away with her loser boyfriend where they plan to run off to San Francisco but things don't turn out the way it was planned and Sally finds herself, once again, in a flustered situation. The movie unfolds at a steady pace. It's a nice movie to sit down and watch without having to be disturbed by violence, blood and guts and other action-related, adrenaline-flowing motives of that sort. It's a really good family movie with a good story line and fine acting.