Hopeless drivel.

| Feb 15, 2020

All we're left with is an uneven story that could have landed on "Best of Straight-to-DVD" shelves or the $1 bin at your local Walmart for Grandma to find.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 16, 2014

Uninspiring sentimental inspirational pic.

| Original Score: C | Dec 12, 2012

The problems with the dialog and story are overcome by the fact that this is a very nice, warm, romantic story with some magic in it.

| Original Score: B | Nov 27, 2012

There's a comforting inevitability to The Magic of Belle Isle, as an alcoholic author spends a soothing, rejuvenating summer in a sleepy lakeside village.

| Original Score: B | Nov 1, 2012

This is a cuddly puppy of a movie - what heart is so dark to do it violence?

| Original Score: 83/100 | Sep 10, 2012

Corny, obvious, and shallow as a puddle, it traffics in outdated stereotypes, overused cliches, and ham-handed emotions. Trust me: your 80 year-old grandmother will love this movie.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 28, 2012

Probably only in theaters because ABC Family said, 'Sorry, this is a little hokey for us.'

| Original Score: 0.5/4 | Jul 19, 2012

If this were real life and not a movie, Mr. Wildhorn would be written off as a crank and ostracized within a week.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 12, 2012

It's earnest, predictable and disposable.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 12, 2012

You can quarrel with the smiley-face outcome of every ordeal, but the tenderness and optimism are so powerful and ingratiating that only a viewer with the darkest sensibility will go away untouched.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 12, 2012

Sometimes it's difficult to remember that Reiner once directed This is Spinal Tap.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 12, 2012

Shamelessly schmaltzy and predictable from first moment to last, Rob Reiner's The Magic of Belle Isle nonetheless manages to conjure a certain spell.

| Jul 9, 2012

The film lacks subtlety and never misses a chance to tug at the heartstrings, gradually drowning amid all of its melodramatic contrivances.

| Jul 6, 2012

Family drama has syrupy plot but fabulous performances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 6, 2012

Madsen, a strong actress who might have matched Freeman, is portrayed in varying shades of blandness. Even Freeman, good as his is, is held back here.

| Original Score: C | Jul 6, 2012

As sticky-sweet and textureless as a bowl of pudding, though an amused central performance from star Morgan Freeman continually finds nuance and the unexpected where there ultimately isn't any.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 6, 2012

So resolutely inoffensive that it flirts with Hallmark Hall of Fame territory.

| Jul 6, 2012

This screenplay is so poorly crafted, it trumps many of those that have eroded the Reiner legacy since '96. "Good script"? Per Inigo Montoya: "I do not think it means what you think it means."

| Original Score: 3.5/10 | Jul 6, 2012

"The Magic of Belle Isle'' smothers two of this year's best performances - by Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen - in enough family-friendly sweetness to induce diabetic shock.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 6, 2012