As I was going to the theater at Cinemark, the ticket-taker asked me what the premise of this movie was about. I told her that I had no idea. She laughed and said the last guy who went through said the same thing.

The fact of the matter was that I have never seen a trailer or had zero idea what this movie was about, but I came mainly because I like Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates as actors.

A group of women in Dublin were trying to win tickets to go to the Grotto of Massabiele in Lourdes. The women, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates) and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), wanted to go to Lourdes for a miracle (each of them had their own plans).

One of their friends died and her daughter Chrissie (Laura Linney) came back for the funeral after being away and estranged for 40 years. Lily and Eileen had their own issues with Chrissie, making the entire situation very awkward.

All three women, along with Chrissie, received tickets to Lourdes and they went to visit the Grotto as well as deal with old wounds and trauma from years before.

The strength of the film is easily the cast. Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Laura Linney are masters on the screen and Agnes O’Casey steps right up with these three legends. Stephen Rhea and Mark O’Halloran added some strong supporting performances as well.

There were a lot of plotlines involved in the main characters that were addressed with the trip. It felt like one of those movies that had plenty of stories in the film that you knew would get werapped up during the runtime.

However, it did feel like a lot of what the main stories were based upon did not work. It did not feel as if I understood the main relationships for much of the film and I did not understand why there was such anger directed toward Laura Linney’s character by the others. Then, sadly, when they dealt with this, a good chunk of what happened or the reasons behind it felt left out.

There were also some moments that were left unresolved or some moments that became resolved that did not feel as if it earned that resolution.

It was entertaining enough, again thanks to the wonderful cast, but the movie is nothing much more than a Lifetime movie that hopes to pull on your heartstrings.

3.2 stars