The quality of the film doesn't quite match the loving care placed into it.
Manna From Heaven (2002)
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Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:4
Rotten:18
Average Rating:4.1/10
Synopsis: MANNA FROM HEAVEN is a witty fable about what happens when you get a gift from God (a financial windfall), but many years later you find out it was a just a loan -- and it’s due immediately.... MANNA FROM HEAVEN is a witty fable about what happens when you get a gift from God (a financial windfall), but many years later you find out it was a just a loan -- and it’s due immediately. Once upon a time, a neighborhood in Buffalo, NY is mysteriously showered with 20-dollar bills. Theresa, a young girl who everyone thinks is a saint, doesn’t have much trouble convincing her loose-knit "family" that the money is a gift from Heaven. Years later, Theresa, who has become a nun, has an epiphany that it is time to pay the money back, so she calls the eccentric group together to repay the "loan." The problem is, nobody wants to give back the money, nobody has the money, they don’t know to whom it belongs, and most of them can’t stand each other. What follows is a rollercoaster of comic twists and turns. Along the way, the characters learn about family, romance, reconciliation and redemption. By working together they begin to realize their full potential and each, in a moment of selflessness, finds the dreams they thought the money would buy them. -- © 2001 Five Sisters Productions [More]
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Reviews for Manna From Heaven
A flimsy, overcomplicated little comedy that--despite the title--is hardly a gift to audiences, divine or otherwise.
You can tell what Manna wants to be -- a light-hearted-yet-profound, feel-good flick in the same vein as It's a Wonderful Life -- but it falls woefully short.
The movie's cloying cuteness and homespun sanctimony make the low production values even harder to forgive.
You may pull a muscle trying not to cringe as such long-time screen veterans as Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman and Frank Gorshin embarrass themselves with over-the-top performances.
Manna from Heaven is labor of love that may not be the best film of the year, but at least you'll come away smiling.
There's a calculated stab at 'feel-good' afoot here, but, more often than not, the film just feels tired.
It's shot like a Lifetime-influenced student film, and the overall artlessness makes the spoony dialogue all the more glaring.
This clumsy comic fable, which mixes Catholic themes, family infighting and a flurry of lame wisecracks, is no gift from God.
The five sisters responsible for the old-fashioned fable 'Manna From Heaven' have a lot of plates spinning in the air -- but even their 10 hands aren't enough to overcome the hokey, overstuffed plot and a messily hand-stitched, often illogical script.
While it would be easy to fault its lack of technical polish, somewhat discursive script and uneven performances, it is also refreshingly sincere, gentle and good-natured.
The Burtons' hearts are in the right place, but they need to get more tough-minded.
It would be better if it weren't quite so sitcommy and if it didn't outlast its ideas.
Though its heart is in the right place, this would-be feel-good sensation never puts the other pieces together.
Manna from Heaven is a creakily old-fashioned screed about Christian selflessness and charity, staged and shot like a Lifetime movie-of-the-week.
Like a hand-knitted sweater, it's a little lumpy and ill-fitting, but it has a wonderful texture and attractive color and is just fine for making you feel warm and cozy.
Overall it is a nice effort by Five Sisters Productions, which has given audiences a much-needed reprieve from the angst, irony and mean-spiritedness that is endemic to modern cinema.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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