I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Just a warning to any men reading this. This is definitely a chick flick. But it's so good you will enjoy watching it, too. You just won't be able to admit to anybody that you did. (Unless you are as secure in your masculinity as I am of course. Ahem...Then you can even admit it had you in tears in parts, but you'll still feel guilty at that, too.) Noah is a Soldier on a mission...Running from his past. His family is gone except for one loser little brother who's just barely out of his teens and on the way to a life of crime already. And Noah blames himself for not being there for the family, for his brother, and for his unit where many of his friends were killed, leaving him with survivor guilt. On the run he's told about a special place to go fishing, something he has an affinity for. And taking the stranger's advice he finds himself involved in the lives of the small town folks and especially a beautiful young widow and her mute son. All of them looking for some kind of sign that life is still worth living.The plot is predictable in some parts but unpredictable in others so there is enough play in the line (to use a fishing metaphor) to make it interesting. As I say, everyone will enjoy it. Though there is one very traumatic scene that may not be appropriate for small children. Not violent or anything, just very sad (and adults watching it may become upset which may upset any children in the room).Having said that, enjoy. With popcorn and Kleenex.A surprise ending (at least for me) which only emphasized that, although this movie has some bad theology, the overall positive note is a sound one. And the best part is, the reality is even better than the fiction. In a world of uncertainty there are signs all around us that GOD really does care and life really is worthwhile, if we will only look and listen and act upon the situations and people He sends our way and most of all His Word (the Bible)...though this is not a "preachy" film or Bible-thumping movie at all and in fact stays rather generic. It is a great movie that may take you unawares.

The cinematography in this movie gives the soul the space and wings to soar! The rivers and lakes are swarming with schools of fish, skirted by beautifully dense woods filled with chirping crickets. The lush green pastures with rich black earth are ripe with enormous wiggling worms - great pickin' for fish-bait.The characters and the plot are heartwarming - yet heartbreaking.A handsome WWII soldier wandering the countryside trying to outpace the grief that dogs his every step since returning stateside.A pretty widow with a warm heart who takes loving care of her deceased husbands' brain-addled aged grandmother.A lonely young mute boy, makes one wonder if it is perhaps from his young mother's death or his runaway fathers abandonment of him.The town and it's cast of characters are quite charming - they make one long to move to this little friendly town in the valley of yesteryear.Throw in a mess of fishin' to boot and this is a MARS & VENUS Movie. The finale of this movie gives ones' soul hope and that's no tall tale. Don't let this movie be - "The One That Got Away"!

This little gem (scheduled to be out on DVD February 15 at select Hallmark Stores)will make a great addition to any DVD collection. Just the basics here: WWII vet Noah Locke (Chris Klein) returns home to find a world of change on the home front, ala "The Best Years of Our Lives", and he must take his life in a new direction. A kind old gent Hoke Moore (Robert Prosky) directs him to the valley where a change of his life's direction is offered. Great job by Gretchen Mol as the leading lady Eleanor Chatwin. Mol's character undergoes changes of her own after meeting Noah. She is a widow of a WWII vet who ended his life upon returning home from the war and her life is a closed loop. Between caring for her late husband's grandmother(who seems to survive on chocolate bars) and running the farm, she appears to have little else in her life. Just compare the change in her physical appearance from their initial meeting in a general store to the the scene of a good old' sit down catfish dinner in her home....Southern Style! A terrific supporting cast rounds out this Hallmark Hall of Fame gem. The filming locations in Oregon and California fill in nicely for rural, post WWII North Carolina.Tragedy strikes both their lives and threatens to end the blossoming romance between Noah and Eleanor. Noah soon realizes that he was guided to the valley. Several media critics panned this flick, but it came in at #10 for the week in the ratings, tied with "24", so see it for yourself and make your own decision.

Be prepared to bring a box of tissues to this heartbreaking film.A soldier returns home from World War 11 to his North Carolina home. His 17 year old brother is in prison for a crime which is not described. When our soldier, played by Chris Klein, named Noah, asks for leniency, he is denied this. On top of all this, his parents have died during the war years. The farm was sold off so Noah has to become a wanderer.He goes to a small town and meets an angel who directed him to go there. He hears the tale of a big fish in a lake. There he meets a young child who lives with his grandparents. The boy's mother is dead and the father is not there. Noah develops a strong bond with the boy who doesn't talk. Noah lives in a shed provided by widow Gretchen Mol, whose husband came home from the war and promptly put a bullet in his head. She lives with his grandmother who has a fetish for chocolate.The widow gets Noah a shed and shows him the chair where the owner of the latter died.If this isn't enough, tragedy ensues when the silent child pursues the fish. The town mourns by singing a hymn that was sung in the 1953 film version of "Titanic" with Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb. Yes, Noah will leave but will find himself back in the town.The story needed to have much more of a character development. This is sadly lacking here. The viewer must have come away very depressed as I did.The film is a heartbreak. Is Noah doing the same search that Tyrone Power was looking for the meaning of life in 1946's "The Razor's Edge."Life, as we know it, can be very depressing. We don't need to be reminded of it by this production.1945 was never depicted more bleak than this. Maybe, they woke up 3 years later when Dewey was upset by Truman.