This a story about second chances. I do not know how faithful it is to Anne Tyler's novel, I have not read it, but I know in real life everyone needs second chances. In this story everyone gets a second chance but Danny, unfortunately. Lucy gets a second chance with Danny. Bee and Doug Beedloe get a second chance to be parents and they do a good job. Ian ruins Lucy's second chance, but redeems himself by taking responsibility for raising the orphaned children as his parents age, and they do a good job raising them. When the other grandmother is finally found years after Danny and Lucy's deaths, Ian realizes that they are better off without that woman in their lives. A second chance with that grandmother would have been a disaster. Finally Ian himself gets his own second chance with Rita. The Church of Second Chances is a metaphor for life. God is always there giving second chances,and even third and fourth ones. Life is filled with second chances, if we only see them and embrace them.

This movie started out so good and really had me hooked but then I got confused,then outright lost.The movie starts out about a very close family who've gathered at Christmas and the oldest brother has his girlfriend with him and proclaims they're getting married.The wife who already has two kids acts very spacey.Next scene the couple has had a baby but only been married 7 months which the younger brother tells anyone who'll listen that it's not his brother's baby.Where is all this going? The movie is about the younger brother(Ian) and how he ends up living his life after tragedy in the family but it takes it's time getting there.Ian tells his brother how his wife is cheating on him,that the baby's not his and how she is always getting babysitters during the day and coming home late,not to mention always having fancy clothes he didn't buy.The brother knows his wife has a problem but only sees the good in her. He drops Ian off after he finishes trashing his wife and so angry on the inside he crashes into a tree killing himself.The wife is unable to function or work and also commits suicide by taking pills.Ian the only one who knows why the two are dead thinks it's his fault since he finds out the wife's problem was that she was a kleptomaniac not cheating on her husband.Ian who was in college and had a steady girl keeps seeing the couple and after going into a storefront church and confessing what he's done dedicates his life to the kids.The family can't find any relatives and his parents are up in age so he drops out of college and raises the 3 kids and becomes a devout church member.I was very confused as to the era.It seemed to start in the 50's yet at the wife's grave a woman was in a very short mini skirt.The children grew to adulthood but yet Ian looked the same as he did in college except for one part where he looked older then back to young Ian.At the end he meets a woman but she seems to be in the 80's while everybody else seems to be in the early 70's.She comes into the movie out of nowhere the barely have 2 scenes together and he end up telling everyone he's marrying her as the kids are established in their lives.Oh yeah oldest girl has a doll when she's little that has a piece of paper she hides from everyone.The woman Ian marries is a house clutter remover and the doll ends up on top of the trash.He sees it pulls the paper out reads an address on it and ends up finding the kids real grandmother on their father's side.She has always hated the kids mother and her son is dead also from an accident.He realizes it was his destiny to raise the kids in a loving home as she didn't want them anyway. I give it 5/10 for touching my heart but the movie doesn't flow smoothly.

While this movie was a little thin in places and had a less than imaginative ending, it is well worth watching and is a nice contrast to highly unrealistic Hollywood films and soap operas where the dead come back to life and/or people really get second chances.How does a person live with the knowledge that his own actions (although they were well intentioned but misguided at the time)destroyed the lives of those closest and dearest to him and caused years of pain and suffering to others? Many would turn to drugs, alcohol, anger, denial, or suicide. This movie shows how it is possible to reach inside yourself and out to others to heal some of the wrong that was done. I liked how it also had a sub-plot about how the young man succeded in life without going to college or getting married (or atleast not until later in life)and how he wanted to "make things that people won't throw away".While it's not the kind of movie you watch with friends and a beer, it's great for a quiet evening at home alone or with family. It gets you thinking.The only trouble that I have with it is that while it begins very strong and I felt drawn into the characters and their dilemas, the last 1/4 of the film was very weak and the characters became cardboard and cliche almost. ie. the oldest girl became a doctor, the youngest a rebellious misfit. Just try to overlook that part and you'll enjoy it.

A Hallmark movie about a young man who turns to God and church after a family tragedy. Wonderfully written, nice sets, and a terrific cast. Thomas McCarthy was very good in the leading role, and you can spot a pre-"Providence" Melina Kanakaredes in the role of his girlfriend. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow's mom, Blythe Danner. A very good movie.