A Strange Brand of Happy

It's interesting that the people who wrote the preview description of this movie on Netflx chose to leave the spiritual subtext of it out of their copy. In fact, had I known about the subtext going in, I may have clicked past it. But I enjoyed this film and it definitely doesn't hit you over the head with a faith message. The characters and acting are engaging, though not amazing. I agree with another review that the Joyce character/actor is a bit wooden and removed to really make me want to care about her. But the two male lead characters are well played and there is an interesting group of elderly sub-players including a great performance by Shirley Jones aka Mom Partridge. Part rom-com, part quirky, offbeat indy film, and part "hmm" thought provoker on faith and spirituality, this is a more than worthy way to spend an hour and forty minutes.