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Love's Abiding Joy

PG Released Oct 6, 2006 1h 27m Western Romance List
13% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 80% Audience Score 10,000+ Ratings
The death of an infant and a severe drought test the faith of Christian pioneers Missy and Willie LaHaye (Erin Cottrell, Logan Bartholomew) as they try to eke out a living as cattle ranchers. Willie reluctantly takes a job as town sheriff, then finds he must evict friends and neighbors who have fallen behind in their payments to land baron Samuel Doros (John Laughlin). Read More Read Less

Critics Reviews

View All (8) Critics Reviews
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel Rated: 1/5 May 13, 2009 Full Review Joe Leydon Variety The stop-and-start pacing indicates careful planning for the easy insertion of commercials. And few of the actors look entirely at home in the period setting. Oct 14, 2006 Full Review Bill Muller Arizona Republic The acting borders on melodrama and the movie obviously was edited for TV. Rated: 2/5 Oct 5, 2006 Full Review Heather Boerner Common Sense Media Slow, sappy, Christian-themed TV adaptation. Rated: 2/5 Dec 18, 2010 Full Review Ryan Cracknell Calgary Movies Although wholesome and simple in its storytelling, the central characters are on such a pedestal of virtue that it's impossible to relate to them in any way. Apr 4, 2007 Full Review Manny Lewis Seattle Post-Intelligencer The movie, based on the novel by Janette Oke, shows how time and belief can help deal with tragedies. These solutions, however, when applied to the LaHayes' particular tragedy, make for a stagnantly morose plot. Rated: C Oct 12, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Great movie! The actors were supreme in their roles! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member 4. The stories of Missie and Jeff: The struggles and the first love. The fourth movie in the Hallmark's 'Love Comes Softly' movie series. It continued a few years after where the previous one ended. LaHaye family comfortably settled down running a ranch in the wild west and Missie is now a full time teacher in a local school. This story apprises the struggles and introduces a proper villain for the first time in this series. Unlike the title, the story travels in the opposite direction. Time to test your faith in this series. If you manage to get through, you would continue or feel tediousness. Hold on, I did not say the movie was good as the previous ones. Until now I had not seen a substandard in the series. Maybe the word 'substandard' is very rude. It can be explained in another way as well like the story considerably focuses on the misery side of the LaHaye family. Missie's father came a long way to spend time her and his grandchildren. But then the visit came at a wrong time, especially the entire region is suffering from the drought. The troubles only extends without a sign of ending. Some of the LaHaye's family friends living in their worst nightmare. "The only thing we both want... We won't ever see again." In a parallel layered narration, Jess is near the 20 or something and he tastes his first love. Not without the obstacles. Because the girl who is associated with him is from highly influenced family in the town. It was a pretty good romance track, deserved to be told as one side his family is grieving and other hand his (Jeff's) own struggle. Sad faces are seen everywhere and I'm happy it is not all about the happiness, though there are sad narrations as well in the series. So, it was the story composition intensely created that way to display. But the viewers are not thinking about the possibilities of what a family could go through in a such situation. Rather, they are pointing out the movie as a downfall, not the story that talks about the downfall. That is why the whole film looks grim and depressing, only if you did not get it. Anyway, it is a long movie series and all kinds of mood, genre, theme of the tales are expected in the each film. I believe the next one would get better and that's what I'm thinking right now. 7/10 Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I thoroughly enjoy this series, but this was one of the weakest ones. Story weak. Acting weak....and to make matters worse, the DVD that I watched did not have the voices matching the mouth movements. Hate that... Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Waiting for the love kill these annoying characters. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Great Family movies!!!! my mom read the book collection to our family every nite till we finished them :) Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Enjoyed the first three but this one was a let down... Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Love's Abiding Joy

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Movie Info

Synopsis The death of an infant and a severe drought test the faith of Christian pioneers Missy and Willie LaHaye (Erin Cottrell, Logan Bartholomew) as they try to eke out a living as cattle ranchers. Willie reluctantly takes a job as town sheriff, then finds he must evict friends and neighbors who have fallen behind in their payments to land baron Samuel Doros (John Laughlin).
Director
Michael Landon Jr.
Producer
Brian Gordon, Erik Olson
Screenwriter
Michael Landon Jr., Douglas Lloyd McIntosh, Bridget Terry
Distributor
Fox, The Bigger Picture
Production Co
Alpine Medien
Rating
PG (Mild Thematic Elements)
Genre
Western, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 6, 2006, Limited
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 2, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA)
$252.7K
Runtime
1h 27m