The Magic of Belle Isle

That the The Magic of Belle Isle can conjure any true feeling at all is some kind of wonder. Set in upstate New York, at the idyllic lakeside town of the title, this gooey reteaming of Rob Reiner and Morgan Freeman is crammed tight with baldly...

Remember the lyric about a teaspoon of sugar helping the medicine go down? Rob Reiner’s “The Magic of Belle Isle’’ smothers two of this year’s best performances — by Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen — in enough family-friendly sweetness to induce...

The Magic of Belle Isle continues Rob Reiner's descent from A-list filmmaker to purveyor of pure trash. The man who once delivered smart entertainment like This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men and When Harry Met Sally...

A PG-rated family drama called “The Magic of Belle Isle” automatically implies a high level of shameless earnestness. Dialogue like “There's more to life than the way you're livin' it” or “I want to know where stories come from” isn't just firing...

“The Magic of Belle Isle” is a story about a place, like Oz, that exists only in the imagination, which is part of its charm. It is about a novelist who talks like he writes, which is believable enough, but every other adult in the film talks the...

One of the great concurrent pleasures of watching movies by directors genuinely sustaining their craft through the decades - and not in it for the money and fame - is both anticipating and and experiencing the surprise of how their work transforms and...

Don't feel sorry for yourself. Don't be bitter. Don't shut people out. A crotchety, alcoholic, wheelchair-bound coot played on cruise control by Morgan Freeman learns these recycled lessons in a pastel-colored, embroidered wall-hanging of a drama...

Explaining to future generations why Rob Reiner was once one of Hollywood’s top directors was never going to be easy, but as his latter-day output worsens, the fact that he once helmed a Best Picture nominee (1992’s A Few Good Men) starts to seem like...

When Morgan Freeman is in a movie, you may feel that’s reason enough to see it. That’s certainly true of Rob Reiner’s “Magic of Belle Isle,” a film that has little else to recommend it.