''The Magic of Belle Isle'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Once More'') is a 2012

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...

and written by Guy Thomas. The film stars

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...

Virginia Madsen Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pri ...

Emma Fuhrmann Emma Cate Fuhrmann (born September 15, 2001) is an American actress known for her work as Finnegan O'Neil in ''The Magic of Belle Isle'' (2012), Espn Friedman in '' Blended'' (2014), and Cassie Lang in '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019). Personal l ...

Madeline Carroll Madeline Carroll (born March 18, 1996) is an American actress known for starring as Juli Baker in '' Flipped'', as Molly Johnson in '' Swing Vote'', as Farren in '' The Spy Next Door'', and as Willow O'Neil in ''The Magic of Belle Isle''. Ear ...

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...

Nicolette Pierini Nicolette Pierini (; born December 30, 2003) is an American child actress and performer. She was first noticed for her role in ''The Magic of Belle Isle'' (2012), opposite Morgan Freeman, and is known for the 2014 film adaptation of the musical ...

Kevin Pollak Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 80 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's legal film ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in '' Grump ...

and

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wai ...

. The film was released on July 6, 2012, by

Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Mag ...

Plot

Grumpy Monte Wildhorn is brought to spend the summer at a lakeside cabin in Belle Isle by his nephew Henry, who's friends with the owner. He is a famous

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

ist. His struggle to cope with the loss of his wife to cancer six years earlier has sapped his passion for writing and has driven him to drink heavily. Monte eventually befriends the family next door, attractive single mother Charlotte O'Neil and her three young daughters, teen Willow, middle child Finn and Flor. The eldest is constantly on her cell, Finn is mischievous and Flor is naïve. Shortly after arriving, a resident drops dead. Another neighbor asks Monte to read the pre-prepared eulogy. Afterwards, he meets Finn, who asks him to teach her three new words for her mom, then how to write as her mentor. He teaches her through example, making up a story on the spot, which she bought. Invited to the O'Neils for dinner, Finn shows she has learned well the vocabulary Monte'd taught her. When Charlotte indirectly asks him about love, he basically says his wife was the love of his life. Not only does the writer subtly influence people in town, but they help him find inspiration again. Finn spontaneously coming up with a story stimulates him to write a story for Flor, and then another. One day in late August, Charlotte asks Monte to watch the girls while she finalizes her divorce in NYC. They bond, and he tells Finn how he ended up requiring a wheelchair, meeting the love of his life, and starting writing. Shortly thereafter he says his goodbyes. Months pass and Monte has returned to Belle Isle. After selling the movie rights to his Western books, he is able to buy the house next door, and the O'Neils welcome his return.

Cast

as Monte Wildhorn *

as Charlotte O'Neil *

as Finnegan "Finn" O'Neil *

as Willow O'Neil *

as Flora "Flor" O'Neil *

as Henry *

as Joe Viola *

as Al Kaiser *

Ash Christian Ash Christian (born January 16, 1985, in Paris, Texas – d. August 14, 2020 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) was an American actor and film director and producer. He was the founder of Cranium Entertainment. He wrote, directed and produced ''Fat Gir ...

as Carl Loop *

Jessica Hecht Jessica Hecht is an American actress and singer who played Gretchen Schwartz on '' Breaking Bad'', Susan Bunch on ''Friends'', and Carol on '' The Boys''. She has also made numerous Broadway appearances. Early life and education Hecht was born ...

as Karen Loop *

Boyd Holbrook Robert Boyd Holbrook (born September 1, 1981) is an American actor. He has starred in the Netflix series ''Narcos'' (2015-2017) as DEA agent Steve Murphy and '' The Sandman'' (2022-) as the Corinthian, as well as in the History miniseries '' Ha ...

as Luke Ford

Production

''The Magic of Belle Isle'' was filmed in the village of

Greenwood Lake Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in July 2011.

Reception

''The Magic of Belle Isle'' received negative reviews from critics according to

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

where the film has a rating of 29%, based on 34 reviews, with a rating of 4.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on September 18, 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Of Belle Isle 2012 films Films directed by Rob Reiner American drama films 2010s English-language films Films about interracial romance Films about writers Voltage Pictures films Castle Rock Entertainment films Films scored by Marc Shaiman Films about paraplegics or quadriplegics 2012 drama films Films produced by David Valdes 2010s American films