Expecting a Miracle (2009) Jason Priestley, Teri Polo, Cheech Marin, Shalim Ortiz, Rebeka Montoya, Kevin Hernandez Movie Review

Expecting a Miracle (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jason Priestley and Teri Polo in Expecting a Miracle (2009)

The Dommatina Miracle

Having learned that their latest course of IVF treatment has failed Pete (Jason Priestley - Termination Point) and Donna Stanhope's (Teri Polo - For the Love of a Child) marriage begins to struggle due to the disappointment of not being able to conceive. With his work suffering Pete's boss orders him to take Donna away for a week down to his time share in Mexico. But along the way their jeep breaks down leaving them stranded in the small Mexican village of Dommatina where the mechanic can't get parts for a few days. Stuck there for a few days Pete gets to know a young boy called Pepillo (Kevin Hernandez) who despite having a disability lives life to the full whilst Donna also meets people and it starts to change both of their outlooks on life.

"Expecting a Miracle" is one of those movies which is not so much about what happens or who stars in it but how it makes you feel, that warm feeling of wholesomeness and simple honest charm. As such whilst "Expecting a Miracle" stars Jason Priestley, Teri Polo and Cheech Marin whilst featuring a storyline about a couple whose relationship is at breaking point under the disappointment of being unable to have children neither of these are really that important. In fact once you have the set up of Pete and Donna not only unable to have children but becoming stuck in the small Mexican town of Dommatina, where the locals believe in miracles, you can guess the outcome. But it still works because whilst not real life, people are far too nice or in some cases too cynical, it fills you with a warm fuzzy feeling and makes you think that maybe we do make life harder than it really is.

Kevin Hernandez in Expecting a Miracle (2009)

The thing is that whilst "Expecting a Miracle" is more about how it makes you feel rather than who is in it, you do have to say that the combination of Jason Priestley, Teri Polo and Cheech Marin are appealing and they do a nice job, maybe overacting every now and then but get things for the most right. But they are all out shone by Kevin Hernandez who plays young Pepillo because not only does he deliver the enthusiasm and energy of a young boy but in the scene where he talks about his late mother you genuinely feel the emotion.

What this all boils down to is that "Expecting a Miracle" is a movie which is both obvious and routine but in many ways it doesn't matter because it is how it makes you feel which is important.


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