The Wishing Well
The Wishing Well
| 09 December 2009 (USA)
The Wishing Well Trailers

Widower, Mark Jansen, owns and runs the local newspaper for the Midwest town he grew up in. As he struggles to make ends meet, his daughter takes his happiness into her hands by going down to the famous wishing well their little town is known for, and wishing for just that - his happiness. Shortly after, a glamorous woman appears in town by the name of Cynthia Tamerline. Lead by Mark's daughter, Cynthia makes a trip to the well herself and casts a wish. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds that she has been transported to an alternate universe that ultimately changes her forever.

Reviews
Matcollis

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

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Orla Zuniga

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

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Keeley Coleman

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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Brooklynn

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

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magicofnimue

I love this movie and wish they would release on DVD. So instead I have to wait until Hallmark decides to air when they choose to. I keep checking online periodically to see if it's ever been released. Tell them to release on DVD! It is a charming, sweet, heartfelt movie with every day people who connect and are the better for it. I highly recommend this movie for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air. It has magic, love, charm and so much more. You should take a chance and watch it the next time Hallmark airs it. I think the actors did a good job expressing their emotions. It is very entertaining with likable actors who have great personalities. Great movie!

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HallmarkMovieBuff

Of the three Hallmark movies watched on a sequestered Saturday night of a holiday weekend, this, as expected, was the best of the lot.Cynthia Tamerline (Jordan Ladd), a highfalutin hot-shot reporter for a Manhattan celebrity mag, is sent by her editor to the midlands of America to write a feature for a sister publication about a small-town wishing well, to spark her up and teach her a lesson. Upon arrival, she finds that nobody there has heard of her prestigious calling card, but they all love the down-home tips in the homemakers' magazine she's actually there to report for.Cynthia rushes through her assignment in order to get back to her privileged life in New York, but makes a wish at the well before she leaves. (How to be happy?) She falls asleep on the plane, and wakes up in an alternate universe, back in the town she just left, penniless, and dependent upon a job at the town's tiny newspaper. The rest of the movie deals with Cynthia's transition into humanity.This movie is well-executed all around, except that one must agree with an earlier reviewer that our heroine makes the transition from grumpy city girl to breezy small-town lass much too quickly, i.e., just after her very first newspaper assignment, which is to cover a funeral that is so sparsely attended that she is recruited as a pallbearer.

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cmflash

The first reviewer was a bit wrong I think. I believe they must have meant Jason London, rather than Jason Young? The 2nd reviewer was more correct and I agree with them that the movie is not necessarily a Oscar contender, but then, many Oscar contenders are total piles of garbage. I don't remember another movie that Jason London was in with Ernest Borgnine. But it was Jason rather than his brother Jeremy who was in a movie with Ed Asner. It was called Out of the Woods and it too was a fantastic movie and a lot of fun to watch, just like Wishing Well was.This movie was great and it was refreshing to see a movie with no violence or profanity or gratuitous sex scenes. Jason London was terrific as always. It was a pleasure to see him in this movie.

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ianlouisiana

"Wishing Well" should have been the kind of frothy comedy Miss Doris Day and Mr Rock Hudson thrived on 50 years ago but unfortunately no one told Mr Jason Young who plays the widowed owner of a small town newspaper as if he was Willie Loman.Miss Ladd as the ace reporter from the Big City on a "punishment assignment" to Wishing Well,Illinois,to write a story about the,er,wishing well,takes her role slightly less seriously,but,sadly,is no more believable. Add a cute kid and a cute oldster (Mr Borgnine)and the splendid Miss Kellerman and you ought to get at least a fairly diverting movie,but "Wishing Well" fails to told the attention because just when the tempo starts looking up,along comes Mr Shaughnessy to drive us all into the slough of despond. Having been assigned to Wishing Well,Miss Ladd wakes up one morning,and,due to the machinations of the wishing well,finds that she is not the hot reporter from the Big City but a recent hire for the ailing paper that is about to be sold to a multi - conglomerate. She soon comes under the spell of the small town and - there's a surprise - the newspaper owner himself and his cute daughter. Due to the further machinations of Wishing Well's wishing well she returns home in triumph,gets made editor of the celebrity magazine she works for,but,there's a lesson here,beware of what you wish for,because in the midst of the concrete canyons she pines for the whiteboard houses and picket fences.And the newspaper owner - obviously. That it all ends happily should surprise nobody,but it seems to take an awfully long time to get there. "Wishing Well" is not really a bad movie,more a "so what?" movie that might find it hard to claim a niche in an overcrowded market.But if you like "magic" stories about the superiority of small town values and the opportunity of starting afresh,it may well appeal.

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