Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Xjayhawker First, I would like to thank Hallmark for putting on this movie because in doing so they took a chance that people could actually relate..and not be afraid to throw in a story with a religious element..the old adage is never talk about politics or religion. While it is true that we delve into some fundamental issues of the Jewish faith, this is first and foremost a story of friendship offered and love found. One review called this a romantic comedy..others found faults here and there but there will always be those that look for some shortcomings. I see this as a tender story of two people discovering that they have much to offer each other after Jake's brother dies leaving a widow. She has her ways steeped in tradition and Jake has his ways..not being home much and a girlfriend and working long hours at the hospital..did I mention that his girlfriend initially encouraged Jake (Adam Kaufman) to befriend the young widow (Lauren Ambrose)?After all, she's family. The first days and weeks thrown together as "roommates" are played in such a realistic and touching way, you are drawn into "their" story..and it is theirs and the memory of his dead brother..and mothers wanting what's right for their kids..this is a sweet, innocent and tender. Telling of simple love..there's no comedy here..but the facial expressions and the eyes say this is really some fine acting..I waited for this to come on and was not disappointed. And neither will you.It's that good.

Nozz To begin with, a real Orthodox Jewish woman, from an Orthodox Jewish community, would not bother making an oven kosher for use if she couldn't count on her own flatmate to try to keep it kosher, or even to know what's kosher and what isn't. She wouldn't go to a swimming pool where men are allowed in at the same time. She wouldn't even hold a conversation alone with a strange man on a rooftop. We're given to understand that the heroine of this film isn't the typical Orthodox Jewish woman anyway, because she likes to sneak out to the movies; but obviously the real reason for her atypical behavior is that without it, the plot of the film could never occur. Also misrepresented is Reform Judaism: a Reform rabbi explains soberly about the interaction between the living and those who have passed on, and although with enough effort you could probably find a Reform rabbi who would say almost anything, I think you would look hard before you found one who claimed that the dead soul goes through experiences, and harder yet before you found one who claimed to know exactly what those experiences are. All that said, what we have here is a well acted film albeit a doubly formulaic one-- formulaic both in the progress of its love story and in its reconciliation of ostensibly incompatible ways of life.

Marian Paroo As I am a secular Israeli, I would be very interested in seeing this film.Here, "halitza", as it's called, is nothing romantic and cute. There is no civil marriage, so if a Jewish widow wants to remarry, she MUST have it from her bro-in-law. This has been problematic when 1) the dead husband leaves a brother under the age of thirteen or 2) brother-in-law knows that charging her for doing giving it to her or 3) dead husbands family just wants to deny her the possibility of remarriage to be mean.I know a fellow that wanted to marry a widow, but her late husbands family were asking for an astronomical price to set her free, so they went to Cyprus to marry.We have the Hallmark channel, so I hope it eventually gets here.

Melissaslist I liked this movie a lot. I thought Lauren Ambrose was great in the role of Leah, an orthodox Jewish woman living in brooklyn who's husband dies leaving her a widow, and according to tradition, which I've NEVER heard of that she should be encouraged to marry the brother of her dead husband so she can have children and carry on the family name.The catch is that the living brother is extremely reformed in his ways while the deceased was extremely devout. They decide to marry, but both agree it's for convenience only and she moves to DC to live with him while he works on his medical fellowship.She's a free spirit and is happy for the opportunity to renew herself and wants to pursue a college degree against the wishes of her mother who believes a womans role is to serve her husband and children.What happens next is largely predictable, but it didn't bother me becuause the development of their relationship seemed to come very naturally and honestly.What struck me most about this movie was the charming childlike innocence of Leah as she was learning this whole new life. It was as if she was an amish person who moved to the big city and had to adapt to the pace and modern ways of life in addition to trying to maintain her OWN way of life through the way she decorated her room to her cooking traditional meals and taking on wifely duties....It was like she was trying to figure out how she could merge two worlds into one.It was a typical Hollywood ending no surprise. After all this was a hallmark hall of fame movie, but I really liked it.