Fallen Angel (2003)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A lot of fun.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

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

Enjoyed the movie very much, but had some reservations: 1-Plot-wise--Why would a father who loved his daughter so much, simply disappear after the car accident in the snow? 2-Joely Richardson (playing Katherine) did OK until the end when she found out that Terry McQuinn (played by Senise) was the boy in her past, and especially after she found out that her dad was still alive. Her reaction was not strong enough (not enough emotion)! The makeup scene at the end over the phone was not especially credible.3-Gary Senise, with his trademark look, was pretty stone-faced, but that did not detract from the movie because it sort of fit in well with his dad, who had a pretty cold personality.4-The acting by Jordy Benattar (as Olivia), Dave Nichols (as Charles Wentworth), and Gordon Pinsent (as Warren Wentworth) was very good!

I just finished watching this film and I am going to comment on the positive aspects of it in regards to how I related to it personally. Overall, this film appealed to me based on how the main male character (Gary Sinise) was "caught in the middle" of trying to figure out whether or not to reveal a variety of secrets after returning home to take care of his recently deceased father's estate. The "left hand does not know what the right hand is doing" type of aspect that this film portrays in a variety of ways, is what I found interesting to think about and analyze. So if you are willing to ignore any minor inconsistencies of the film plot and just enjoy it for it's main theme of Gary Sinise's character trying to figure out what it will take to "do the right thing", then you may find this film a pleasure to watch. As they say, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", which is why I personally found this film to be quite beautiful in it's overall message of inspiring hope for solving unexpected quagmires. The idea of being able to find positive solutions for any type of difficult problem that you may be confronted with trying to figure out how to deal with when you weren't expecting to perform this type of task, is what I personally found to be the most attractive aspect of this film's plot portrayal. Also, the idea of what it will take for a person to become willing to "open up" and discuss things they normally wouldn't discuss with somebody else, is another aspect of this film that I found intriguing to put into perspective as a whole. To a certain degree, this added a kind of therapeutic healing aspect to the film's overall plot, something that seems to rarely occur (sadly) in any film in this day and age. This is why I rate this film a "10".

I saw this movie and enjoyed it very much. The way it was made was unique in how that young Terry and Katherine were in a car accident and then after when as as adults the way Terry recognized Katherine. I liked the way Terry explained to Katherine how he knew her and told her about her dad and how her and her dad met each other. It really meant very much to me.

The meaning of the title "Fallen Angel" is not apparent until about halfway through the film. I will discuss it below, after the "SPOILERS" warning. Sinise plays a very successful attorney in L.A., leaving Maine after his graduation because he and dad were not close, and he wanted "to become more" than caretaker of vacation cottages in Maine. He comes back upon news that his dad is ill. A key element of the story is being reunited with a girl he had not seen in 30 years. SPOILERS follow, read further at your own risk. As a boy, he had been in a car that accidentally killed a mom and child in the winter, the shocked dad went off into the woods, was written off as dead, the 9-year-old boy was in the back seat comforting the 4-year-old daughter. When he returned as an adult, the grown girl coincidentally was arranging to spend Christmas in the cottage, they reunited but she had no memory of the early childhood. Her dad was not dead, he was a street person, in the winter they would go into parking garages and partially lay on warm hoods of cars, and looked like 'fallen angels', thus the name of the movie. Eventually the daughter and dad were reunited, and the two grown kids fall in love. Just a sweet, typical Hallmark movie where everything turns out for the better.