Military Wives is cheesy and predictable — but that's okay: Review
), the colonel's wife who lost her adult son on a previous tour, offers to help. The ladies, mismatched as they prove to be, decide to form a choir. It's all quite obvious: They clash every step of the way, but the singers improve enough to be invited to perform in the annual high-profile Remembrance Day concert.
More predictable still are the recognizable beats to follow, as the women grow as performers and cope with their maddening no-news-is-good-news reality. But' strength ultimately lies in its extreme familiarity. This is a movie about people trying to establish a routine, trying desperately to feel normal and comforted, and it works best when it speaks the language of the normal and the comforting. Nobody, inside the movie or watching it, wants these women to toil over Kate's solemn hymns; everyone involved brightens up a bit when Lisa steps in and starts a singalong of "Don't You Want Me." This is not a time to bother with sheet music!absolutely succeeds in what it sets out to do — which is, admittedly, not a particularly grand ambition, but that doesn't mean it's not a mark worth hitting. The performance of Scott Thomas is pitch-perfect as usual, and the chemistry among the mostly female cast feels warm and genuine. The film's greatest weaknesses lie in its musical sequences and the baffling arc of the choir itself. The leap from "sober karaoke," as Kate quite rightly scoffs, to a nationally televised performance is rather alarming, considering how little indication the film gives that the women have put any meaningful energy into the endeavor. Rachel Tunnard and Rosanne Flynn's script piles on the schmaltz , but that's part of the film's particular pleasure. I did not for one second buy into the contrived ascent of this choir, but did I get a little misty when they delivered their final performance, carefully engineered to put a tidy cap on all the hardship the previous 90 minutes had depicted? Of course I did. I'm not a monster. The timeliness of the film is particularly affecting when they all say goodbye to their loved ones, then cope with loneliness by compulsively online shopping and trying not to think about horrible possibilities over which they have no control. There are better movies than this one, sure. But this is its moment. Call it military punctuality.
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