The Wishing Well
The Wishing Well
| 09 December 2009 (USA)
The Wishing Well Trailers

Widower, Mark Jansen, owns and runs the local newspaper for the Midwest town he grew up in. As he struggles to make ends meet, his daughter takes his happiness into her hands by going down to the famous wishing well their little town is known for, and wishing for just that - his happiness. Shortly after, a glamorous woman appears in town by the name of Cynthia Tamerline. Lead by Mark's daughter, Cynthia makes a trip to the well herself and casts a wish. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds that she has been transported to an alternate universe that ultimately changes her forever.

Reviews
Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
HallmarkMovieBuff Of the three Hallmark movies watched on a sequestered Saturday night of a holiday weekend, this, as expected, was the best of the lot.Cynthia Tamerline (Jordan Ladd), a highfalutin hot-shot reporter for a Manhattan celebrity mag, is sent by her editor to the midlands of America to write a feature for a sister publication about a small-town wishing well, to spark her up and teach her a lesson. Upon arrival, she finds that nobody there has heard of her prestigious calling card, but they all love the down-home tips in the homemakers' magazine she's actually there to report for.Cynthia rushes through her assignment in order to get back to her privileged life in New York, but makes a wish at the well before she leaves. (How to be happy?) She falls asleep on the plane, and wakes up in an alternate universe, back in the town she just left, penniless, and dependent upon a job at the town's tiny newspaper. The rest of the movie deals with Cynthia's transition into humanity.This movie is well-executed all around, except that one must agree with an earlier reviewer that our heroine makes the transition from grumpy city girl to breezy small-town lass much too quickly, i.e., just after her very first newspaper assignment, which is to cover a funeral that is so sparsely attended that she is recruited as a pallbearer.
MEEdmo42 Wishing Well is not outstanding in story material but very enjoyable nonetheless. One of the really good things about it is the appearance of Ernest Borgnine, who at 92, is an believable person. An excellent actor (I loved him in Marty) who has been in many movies and on TV, and here he is again with a good role, not just a quick scene. It is also nice to see Tempestt Bledsoe, who has matured well in her looks and talent from the Cosby Show. It was such a pleasure to see her in this. I think many of us would like to do this, at least we feel it sometime in our life. To get out of the life we live and into someplace simple and loving and caring. I think both lead characters are written well. Even some of the music help the story along. I wouldn't advise anyone to watch it if you like reality heavy and deep subjects that tear at the heart and mind. This is just one to sit back and enjoy.
edwagreen Our heroine adapts too quickly to her new situation after she is demoted from her job and goes to write for another magazine.Her making a wish in the town wishing well transports her to a totally different life. She meets very plain, ordinary people and is easily able to identify with them quickly. Though an excellent reporter, she takes criticism too easily from the editor of the tank town in Illinois that she is writing for. Of course, he is a widower with a young daughter and we know that romance will blossom.When she wakes up from reality, she gives up the opportunity of a lifetime to return to the small town and bond with the editor. The ending was absolutely benign.Ernest Borgnine co-stars as a motel owner and Sally Kellerman, a waitress, if you can believe that one as Ms. Kellerman is now 72 years of age.What was her original wish when she cast the coins in the wishing well. Her editor didn't believe in the well and how right he was.
ianlouisiana "Wishing Well" should have been the kind of frothy comedy Miss Doris Day and Mr Rock Hudson thrived on 50 years ago but unfortunately no one told Mr Jason Young who plays the widowed owner of a small town newspaper as if he was Willie Loman.Miss Ladd as the ace reporter from the Big City on a "punishment assignment" to Wishing Well,Illinois,to write a story about the,er,wishing well,takes her role slightly less seriously,but,sadly,is no more believable. Add a cute kid and a cute oldster (Mr Borgnine)and the splendid Miss Kellerman and you ought to get at least a fairly diverting movie,but "Wishing Well" fails to told the attention because just when the tempo starts looking up,along comes Mr Shaughnessy to drive us all into the slough of despond. Having been assigned to Wishing Well,Miss Ladd wakes up one morning,and,due to the machinations of the wishing well,finds that she is not the hot reporter from the Big City but a recent hire for the ailing paper that is about to be sold to a multi - conglomerate. She soon comes under the spell of the small town and - there's a surprise - the newspaper owner himself and his cute daughter. Due to the further machinations of Wishing Well's wishing well she returns home in triumph,gets made editor of the celebrity magazine she works for,but,there's a lesson here,beware of what you wish for,because in the midst of the concrete canyons she pines for the whiteboard houses and picket fences.And the newspaper owner - obviously. That it all ends happily should surprise nobody,but it seems to take an awfully long time to get there. "Wishing Well" is not really a bad movie,more a "so what?" movie that might find it hard to claim a niche in an overcrowded market.But if you like "magic" stories about the superiority of small town values and the opportunity of starting afresh,it may well appeal.