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Undescribable Perfection

Strong and Moving!

Admirable film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

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.

Recently broadcast for the first time on British TV, I was rather pleased with this film which simply details the trials and tribulations of growing up without stability in a family home. When Judge Kay Woodbury takes in troubled 16-year-old Sally Powell, they get off to a bad start, but gradually start to respect one another....Young actress Lyndsy Fonseca is very convincing as Sally, an understandably angry (and also sad) teenager who finds it difficult to fit in. Jaclyn Smith also makes light of her role as caring Judge Woodbury, who apart for upholding the law, is a woman who leads a solitary existence....Ordinary Miracles is not a unique story in any way, but the taut direction and beautiful settings make it more than just a typical television film. The attention to detail is immense, and viewers can certainly imagine the emotions of the characters. Great interaction between Jaclyn and C. Thomas Howell too, who portrays a seemingly ordinary man who must face up to his past. It was a pleasure to watch them together, and Jaclyn has certainly kept her beauty - hard to believe she was pushing 60 at the time!This is a fine film and certainly one of Jaclyn's best TVMs in recent years (indeed, her first tele-movie since 2000's Navigating the Heart), even if the ending is pretty predictable. A good effort from all concerned.

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.