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One of my all time favorites.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Feel-good" movies are much like the classic pop love songs of the 30's & 40's: they're aspirational---that is, such depth/perfection of love is probably not achievable, but we'd like to believe it is. Hence, why complain about realism and accuracy, as though Hollywood routinely trades in those commodities and "Loving Leah" is an exception. We want to believe it's possible and there is no harm in doing so.That being said, this is about as well-acted a TV movie as you're likely to see: Harris Yulin as the Rabbi, Susie Essman & Mercedes Ruehl as the stereotypical yet lovable Jewish mamas, Natasha Lyonne as Leah's older sister (her wide-eyed look from the cab at the film's end is classic), Christy Pusz as Jake's girlfriend (the look on her face when she first meets Leah at the party perfectly communicates that she suddenly understands why Jake refused to let her go...), Tonye Patano cute-as-the-dickens in her small role as Emily, and, of course, Adam Kaufman terrific as Jake.However, Lauren Ambrose IS this movie, appropriate since she plays the title character. Possessed of what my late mother called "natural beauty" (i.e. a haunting combination of outer & inner beauty), those incredible eyes communicate at least as much as her spoken lines. She is that captivating (to men) combination of fire & ice: (Jake: "You're not what I expected...'Ya got sh-punk, Kid'...Bogart"), formidable yet breakable, assertive yet unsure, a budding feminist yet desiring the love of a man. Her facial expressions when Jake first introduces her as "my wife, Leah", when she gives him that "come hither" look as they're silently standing in the doorway, at the very end when he places the ring back on her finger---all are testimonials to her superb acting ability. She is the quintessential Jewish (or Gentile, for that matter) "girl next door".And, as an aside, the two kissing scenes between Leah & Jake are among the most tender I've ever seen---passionate yet non-sexual (yes, I realize that their first sexual encounter followed the first scene). It's so refreshing to see kissing express love rather that merely lust, where the characters start ripping one another's clothes off. None of that here---what happened in the bedroom is left to one's imagination, just as it used to be when Hollywood had a measure of restraint.And Jeff Beal's musical score (complete with klezmer clarinet at times) adds a great deal to many scenes, even though for my tastes it is just a tad too much reminiscent of Schindler's List...In short, feel-good movies are feel-good movies, but some are memorable and should stay around while others should not only be quickly forgotten but never should have been made in the first place. This one belongs firmly if the former category...

As I am a secular Israeli, I would be very interested in seeing this film.Here, "halitza", as it's called, is nothing romantic and cute. There is no civil marriage, so if a Jewish widow wants to remarry, she MUST have it from her bro-in-law. This has been problematic when 1) the dead husband leaves a brother under the age of thirteen or 2) brother-in-law knows that charging her for doing giving it to her or 3) dead husbands family just wants to deny her the possibility of remarriage to be mean.I know a fellow that wanted to marry a widow, but her late husbands family were asking for an astronomical price to set her free, so they went to Cyprus to marry.We have the Hallmark channel, so I hope it eventually gets here.

Jake is a Washington, D.C., physician who has been accepted into a fellowship program. He is engaged to Carol, who he met at the hospital when they were having lunch at the same time. Carol is pretty and seems to work at the hospital, but I'm not sure what she does.Jake, who grew up Jewish but is no longer observant, dreams that he sees his brother Benjamin, a rabbi who he has not kept in touch with, telling him everything is now all right between them. They used to be close, as shown in flashbacks. Jake then finds out Benjamin is deceased.Jake goes to Brooklyn to attend the funeral. He finds out that he obligated by scripture (Deuteronomy 25:5) to marry Benjamin's widow Leah. Neither Jake nor Leah wants to do this, but a halizah ceremony is required to release Jake from his obligation. The words Jake is forced to say would require him to denounce his brother, which he can't do. So he goes through with a sham marriage and moves Leah into his very masculine Georgetown apartment, giving her the other bedroom. The two rarely see each other.Still, you can imagine how this makes Carol feel. Meanwhile, there is an additional complication: the mothers of Jake and Leah don't know the marriage is fake. So they have to go through the motions to keep up the charade.Leah wanted to leave Brooklyn anyway; she wants to go to college and investigates the possibility. Very devout and conservative, she also seeks out a place of worship. The one she finds is very different from the one in Brooklyn; instead of lots of men with black hats and beards, this temple has a female rabbi.The "marriage" appears unlikely to succeed. But wait: why does this movie have the title that it does? Maybe there is hope after all.The leading actors in this movie all do a good job. Lauren Ambrose is pleasant enough, and she is attractive but very plain, though she has beautiful hair (it's actually a wig). I especially liked Ricki Lake as the female rabbi who helps Leah find answers in a new community of faith. Susie Essman plays Leah's mother as abrasive (but in New York City, that's actually love) and intolerant (would an on screen Jewish mother be anything else?). Mercedes Ruehl does an especially fine job as Jake's mother.It is rare to see this much detail about the Jewish faith. Most movies and TV series show Jewish people as non-observant or, where they are faithful, we often don't see the details of what is required of them. The Brooklyn Jews in this movie are the most conservative Jews I have ever seen portrayed. And yet the female rabbi teaches Leah a lot about how all the requirements may not be necessary. Leah and Jake have a lot to teach each other as well.It was worthy of the name "Hallmark Hall of Fame".

I liked this movie a lot. I thought Lauren Ambrose was great in the role of Leah, an orthodox Jewish woman living in brooklyn who's husband dies leaving her a widow, and according to tradition, which I've NEVER heard of that she should be encouraged to marry the brother of her dead husband so she can have children and carry on the family name.The catch is that the living brother is extremely reformed in his ways while the deceased was extremely devout. They decide to marry, but both agree it's for convenience only and she moves to DC to live with him while he works on his medical fellowship.She's a free spirit and is happy for the opportunity to renew herself and wants to pursue a college degree against the wishes of her mother who believes a womans role is to serve her husband and children.What happens next is largely predictable, but it didn't bother me becuause the development of their relationship seemed to come very naturally and honestly.What struck me most about this movie was the charming childlike innocence of Leah as she was learning this whole new life. It was as if she was an amish person who moved to the big city and had to adapt to the pace and modern ways of life in addition to trying to maintain her OWN way of life through the way she decorated her room to her cooking traditional meals and taking on wifely duties....It was like she was trying to figure out how she could merge two worlds into one.It was a typical Hollywood ending no surprise. After all this was a hallmark hall of fame movie, but I really liked it.