The Magic of Belle Isle

It's so refreshing to see some small, creative, literary films during a season of big-budget, high adrenaline, visual effect-packed bonanzas that we've all come to expect. In the midst of the dog days of summer, I came across "The Magic of Belle Isle" which is an absolute gem.

This starts with one, Monte Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman) being driven to a small cabin by his nephew, Henry (Kenan Thompson) in a small rural town, Belle Isle, in an effort to tap into his original talent, writing western novels. He's lost the ability of his legs years past and is now stricken to a wheelchair. But the only thing Monte is interested in is drinking to mask the pain and bitterness in his life. He slowly befriends his next door neighbor, Charlotte O'Neil (Virginia Madsen) and her three daughters, Willow, Finnegan, and Flora (Madeline Carroll, Emma Fuhrmann, and Nicolette Pierini) respectively.
Through these different relationships that slowly blossom, there is a connection that develops, whether during the good or strained times. Not only does Monte reignite his passion for writing, but others end up finding their direction in ways they never knew existed.

Others to round out the cast are Fred Willard as Al Kaiser, Ash Christian as Carl Loop, Jessica Hecht as Karen Loop, Carl's mom, Boyd Holbrook as Luke, Debargo Sanyal as Mahmoud, and Kevin Pollack as Joe Viola, Monte's publisher.

This was passionately directed by Rob Reiner ("This Is Spinal Tap" '84, "Stand by Me" '86, "The Princess Bride" '87, "When Harry Met Sally..." '89, "Misery" '90, "A Few Good Men" '92, "North" '94, "An American President" '95, "The Story of Us" '99, "Alex & Emma" '03, "Rumor Has It..." '05, "The Bucket List" '07, "Flipped" '10). The veteran director that Reiner is, I felt that a small amount of the directing, at the beginning, was a little stagy, but certainly not enough to deter from one powerful movie experience. This was written by Guy Thomas, Reiner, and Andrew Sheinman, which shined. As these characters developed, via through peaks and valleys, one could slowly see these people start to connect. It was encouraging, because I figured that people, in general, were just not connecting with each other, which they're not. But through this film, it kind of gave me a little hope that people really can connect, with a nudge, push, or just a gentle word, it's possible.

All should see this film in that it gives you an incredible shot in the arm, which is something we all could use. Laughter through tears in this comedy/drama may be just what the doctor ordered.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                      Rate: PG                        109min.