Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

vchimpanzee Dr. Evan Gibbs, who just lost his wife to cancer and has a young son Nate, is one of two candidates for head of pediatrics at his Chicago hospital. One of his superiors says in order to get the job, Evan needs to learn to care about people, and he knows of a community in the North Carolina mountains that needs a doctor to run its clinic just for the summer.Nate doesn't like the idea of moving, and once he and his father arrive in Dunn's Rock, Nate really doesn't like this place in the middle of nowhere, where the TV doesn't even work.Evan is not too happy either. The building that is supposedly a clinic is falling apart and inhabited by a raccoon which is not housebroken, and seems to have few if any of the needed supplies or equipment. He meets Terry thinking she is the incompetent nurse, but Terry turns out to be the mayor and won't listen to Evan's demands, thinking he is just uppity and picky. But seriously, this place is a dump and not fit to be a medical clinic.The perky Maggie returns from taking care of her mother, and she seems to know what she is doing and knows where things are. The place is actually better-equipped than we thought.Nate is having trouble adjusting too. Terry's daughter Christina and her friend Freddy who won't talk try to cheer him up. They eventually succeed and play some interesting games involving magic and supernatural fantasies.Darryl is not the handyman assigned to repair the clinic and doesn't take too kindly of being accused of that. He is out of work and his wife Sally has a baby on the way. The handyman is Stan, the town drunk and comic relief. Oh, good, this place will be in shape in no time.Evan must deal with people who can't pay for care and the various problems of being a small-town doctor. And the townspeople don't care for this outsider who seems to think he is better than they are and don't want to listen to his advice. Over time, things get better and Evan learns what makes a small community great. And Terry is pretty and close enough to Evan's age, if you know what I mean.It's a formula we've all seen many times before. Big-city professional gets banished to the boondocks and has to adjust to a new way of life. One could compare it to "Hart of Dixie", though the community in that TV series has a doctor already and is closer to civilization. This movie has one common thread with that series which I won't mention because it's a spoiler, but it does explain a lot.Still, it's not as bad as all that. Evan isn't a pleasant character and it seems unlikely he'll become the beloved doc, but he knows what he is doing and can handle, and has to handle, a number of crisis situations made worse by the fact no hospital seems to be nearby.Edie McClurg stands out from the rest of the cast and has just a delightful personality, and most of the other actors do a good job too. Young Channing Nichols is adorable, nice and intelligent. Mickey Jones is of course a genuine hick and a lot of fun and everything you'd expect in this place, but he turns out to be much more.Still, this is not really a hick town. Terry seems intelligent and so do some of the others. The people in general seem real and not backwoods bumpkins, especially the ones with no lines that are only seen in situations such as town meetings. Based on the credits, I would say these are real people from Transylvania County, and it shows.It is a family movie, but there are some upsetting situations and a medical crisis that involves blood. And this far from a hospital (we're not told, but there's not one in the immediate vicinity), some unpleasant truths have to be dealt with.It's an okay movie.

Havan_IronOak This film felt like Everwood meets the Hallmark Channel on a budget. While the storyline is fine, none of the characters were developed beneath a superficial level and felt very phony towards the end. What doctor when faced with an un-breathing son would stop to cry instead of beginning CPR? I wanted to like the characters in this but it felt like movie needed to be more thought through before it could be engaging. For the most part the photography was beautiful and the sentiment was admirable if somewhat unbelievable.It felt unformed when we first see the son left on his own, with no though having been put into how he would spend his day. Some of the hillbilly types were a bit too stereotypical and I didn't really find it credible that they were afraid of big city doctors.I think that the sentiment was legit and the potential was there but everything felt like it needed more development and maybe a good solid rewrite.

Worldofgrim this is a calming nice movie. rare! the performances were just fine. subtle and under acted, which is a good thing. the "mountain folk" had some caricatures, but in the end, all were good people. great to watch with kids, mine, 3 & 9, watched this calm talking movie with interest, just as much as watching flashing zip zap action cartoons and laugh track Disney shows which is pretty much all the choices there are. i hope more movies like this come out. it hit on some serious issues with subtlety and a sense of reality like a well staged play. my kids learned some strength things here. kudos to crew, actors, writing, director. my only real critique, and i hope the DP learns from this, which may have been due to budget & constraints, but the lighting felt a little too even handed, too well lit. but i am picky about that and like my fog machines, rays of light, dark shadows and negative space. course i'm a monster scifi geek myself.

Jon Simple Things promises to be an uplifting story on the familiar theme of the big-city doctor learning life lessons in a small town. Yes, the theme's been overdone (think Doc Elliot, Doctor Quinn: Medicine Woman, Doc Hollywood, and the excellent Everwood), but it still has potential. Unfortunately, Simple Things realizes none of it. It's based on a book of short stories "Through the Window of Childhood," but Simple Things treats the story of the doctor's son as a fitfully visited subplot, despite the fact that the children turn in the only good performances in the movie. (Nicole Channing's performance is actually stunning ... her career is one to watch.) Cameron Bancroft is completely wooden in his role, and does more than the rest of the cast put together to murder the movie. He curiously displays no interest in helping his mourning son, and never even touches him except during a medical emergency. The other adult actors are poor as well. Bellamy Young comes across as an annoying goody two-shoes in the role of the town's mayor.Finally, the message is hopelessly muddled. Is it about opening yourself up to the people you serve, or doing everything you can to win the big promotion?