With Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey as producers it's almost compulsory that we not only feel good but also that we learn some important life lessons. And the messages are here, if a touch in-your-face. I'm a big fan of subtlety in film (and in books and in TV...in life, in fact); of giving your audience some credit for intelligence, and there's none of that here but it's a mostly pleasant two hours.
Parts of the story are sweet, parts are funny, parts are boring, parts are heart-warming. There's a section in the middle where I was checking my watch (maybe I should change my rating system to watches instead of stars), and if that middle part had ended up on the cutting room floor it would have been a much stronger film. That said, the ending brought me back to the emotional core of the story so I left with a good feeling.
The story is a bit too pat and predictable, and the story arcs are too obvious but the performances are good and it's beautifully photographed.Three stars out of five for The Hundred Foot Journey.
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