The Test of Love (TV Movie 1999) Poster

(1999 TV Movie)

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7/10
Good movie -- with some questions
violet919 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I liked the movie overall and agree with many of the comments made by the other reviewer.

The problem that I have is that I don't understand why he was traveling as Mr. & Mrs. with the woman that died. I understood everything that happened in the past and no issues with it but just don't get that aspect of it. It is not explained in the movie and that sort of leaves the viewers "hanging."

The emotion portrayed by the main characters is very realistic. The situation that they main characters find themselves in is very realistic. At first it was difficult to find sympathy for the main male character but that grew throughout the movie as more details were made available as to what happened in the past.

This movie is definitely worth a view.
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7/10
Fine Film
F1ame15 November 2001
So you're on the runway ready for take-off. Woah the engines kick in and the movie lurches forward, first minute we are into the air. The story starts building altitude.

The movie is inclining at near 45 degrees here. Twenty minutes in and a whole load of story has happened, this can't be. Your gripping your seat sure the movie will stall. Do they realize the better you make the start the further you have to fall when you stall.

Maybe if you have the finance or a big enough engine we can keep this up. Enter Kristina Malota... this little girl makes the movie for me. She adapts the character through the movie brilliantly. Either the director nursed a great performance or this girl has natural talent.

The story is good, the subplots are supporting but not intrusive, the balance of the story is good, not letting any of the story lag and break the flow. This really is a bizarrely good movie.

Or at least I thought so. I have watched a lot of these afternoon cheap romantic/drama movies and this is the only one where I did not look at the clock to find out how long until the interesting conclusion happens.

It's a quick on the way in and fast on the way out. It does not have clever twists or turns it's just good story telling.

Oh yes, and we plateau'd at a high altitude, then coasted in for a solid landing.
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6/10
Pretty Good.
cheen19871 December 1999
I'm watching the movie now, and it's pretty good. I don't know why they said it's due in 2000, cause I'm watching this now. If you like romance movies, please see this movie!!! This is a great movie! RomaDowney's best!
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Once you suspend reality, this isn't so bad
Swangirl20 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Roma Downey (of Touched by an Angel fame) stars in this Lifetime Network tear jerker about a wife who finds out about her husband Mark's best-kept secret when he's injured in a plane crash. Turns out he was accompanied by Cheryl, a mysterious woman who he had a daughter with eight years ago when he and Cassie were separated. And Cheryl's now dead.

Roma does a darned good job not having a mental melt down. She doesn't seem to bat an eyelid when the little girl, Erika, is dumped on her doorstep by Cheryl's neighbor. The child who plays Erika is actually about the only good thing in this movie in that she seems genuinely confused, as are the viewers. We are left to wonder how many years of therapy the poor kid will need to survive all this angst.

Cassie and Mark also have a son who is graduating from high school. Turns out he actually saw dear old Dad with Cheryl a few years ago but didn't tell Mom. He accepts Erika with ease but wants little to do with Dad, showing the only natural response by any character in the film.

Cassie bravely faces these jolts to her life but doesn't let it get in the way of her job as a tennis instructor. Her best friend keeps her spirits up. And she bonds nicely with Erika. But then Erika's aunt shows up and we smell the whiff of a nasty custody fight in the air.

I won't bore you further with the details but the total suspension of reality in this flick was almost too much for me. Within 48 hours of the crash, airline employees have sent Cassie her husband's suitcase. Yeah, right! And it has nary a mark on it. Cassie lets Mark actually come home to recover, something most women discovering such a secret wouldn't do.

As usual, the ending ties everything up in a pretty pink bow, which would not happen in real life. But hey, this is a Lifetime movie, where things never end badly or undone.
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10/10
Hard to get into at first, but it just kept getting better and better!
starring-123 February 2005
What a lovely movie!!!!!!!!! I can't understand why this film has not been shown before and no one even bothered to list the credits more fully for this film. The young actress that played the little girl was awesome -- totally believable. In the beginning there was quite a bit of overacting I thought, and you have to live through a lot of anger in the first half of the film, but things develop in a very realistic way -- and the film even has something not too many films have: an inspiring lesson and ending.

I'm really glad I watched this film. I wonder why although it was released in 1999 it has apparently not been shown much of anywhere until 6 years later. Hmmm...

I didn't care much for some of the lead actors in the film at the beginning, but they definitely grew on me -- as did the film. It's a film that has really beautiful transitions and meaning. Wonderful script.
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Sappy Irritating
profvan930 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
SO over the top, bad over acting from the doctors to Ms. Downey herself, and irritating dialogue. Roma Downey, in addition to bad acting and that weird thing actors do when they try to show sadness and grief with strength, do a quick grimace and then a brief smile, as if she's ever so umm, brave, well, it's in almost every scene. I was watching with my great grandmother who insisted on watching to the end at which time she threw her slipper at the TV and said the f word. That sums it up. Roma's wig was hilariously bad-fitting, bad dyed, the back was funny, and she seemed really older than 39 which was her age when this was filmed. The kid was a better actor than she was. Oh and the piano music in almost every scene was awful! I can't believe they made a movie this bad. PS Spoiler from Granny: "If this happened to my mother she would have smothered my g-d father in his g-d bed and kicked his g-d bastard kids off a g-d cliff." So Granny liked this movie but not me.
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