Manna from Heaven (2002)

Directors:

Gabrielle Burton
Maria Burton

Writer:

Gabrielle B. Burton (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

What happens when a "gift from God" turns out to be a loan?

Plot:

What happens when you get a "gift from god" (a financial windfall), but, many years later, find out it was just a loan -- due immediately....

Plot Keywords:

Mother Superior | Fable | Family | Gift | God

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Shirley Jones	...	Bunny
Cloris Leachman	...	Helen
Louise Fletcher	...	Mother Superior
Seymour Cassel	...	Stanley
Frank Gorshin	...	Ed
Wendie Malick	...	Inez
Jill Eikenberry	...	Dottie
Ursula Burton	...	Theresa
Harry Groener	...	Tony
Faye Grant	...	Rita
Austin Pendleton	...	Two-Digit Doyle
Shelley Duvall	...	Detective Dubrinski
Drew Pillsbury	...	Mac / Bake
Maria Burton	...	Ramona
Cameron Watson	...	Patrick

MPAA:

Rated PG for language and some sexual references.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Five Sisters Productions

Trivia:

This is the third film from the five sisters of Five Sisters Productions. For this one, they optioned a script written by their mother, and asked their father to retire from his job to join them to work on the movie.

Quotes:

Helen: Stay away from that big lug. He's been here for years. That's Two-Digit Doyle.
Two-Digit Doyle: I wasn't always like this. I used to be Five-Digit Doyle!

Movie Connections:

References Camelot (1967)

Soundtrack:

Just the Way You Look Tonight

Terrific script and performances, though a little overdone at times

This was really a pleasure to see; the dialogue was - for the most part - absolutely outstanding (I thought the women's roles were a little better written, which is a nice surprise). The performances were uniformly very good, too. Frank Gorshin overdoes it a little when he goes into his various cons, but this might be his overcompensating for what I see as weaknesses in how the character is written; he's VERY good otherwise. Harry Groener does similarly well with a slightly underwritten character (Tony), overdoing some of the character's angrier scenes slightly. Ursula Burton is excellent as Sister Theresa, really carrying the film through some of its weaknesses. Seymour Cassel and Louise Fletcher are a little underused here, though I liked their work as always. Shirley Jones, Wendie Malick, Jill Eikenberry and Faye Grant are very good also (I couldn't help thinking Grant reminded me a little of Catherine O'Hara here); Cloris Leachman rather tears into her role, with reasonably good results.

I wish there had been more of a sure hand behind the camera, though. Sometimes the framing or staging seemed a bit off, or awkward. The closeups seemed overused (or erratically used) to me. And we don't always go from scene to scene as smoothly as we'd like. Some of the "tough guy" approach to the federal agent (music, costuming) was too over the top for me as well. And the few fantasy sequences didn't really work. But there are things that were VERY well done; the opening sequence set in Buffalo around 1970, for example. And, frankly, all of the scenes regarding Theresa's church work (I suspect the writer and actress liked the character a lot, which helps). The scenes between Malick and Eikenberry are VERY good.

The plot is probably a bit overcontrived - there seem to be a few too many schemes going on at once to keep them all straight at times, and the coincidences got to be a little too much. And I was a little bothered by the ending (should we REALLY be rooting for their biggest con yet to succeed?), but the ride along the way is very enjoyable. It would be nice to see more independent movies like this one made.

7 of 10