User reviews

This movie could have been so much better. Although, a lot of the story stays true to the book, God isn't included nearly as much. The story would be great for teenagers if the creators had not felt it necessary to include the sex scenes. So inappropriate! And crazy that they managed to keep the scenes in the brothels clean, but decided to get much more graphic with the scenes with the married couple. It took away from the quality of the movie and was unnecessary. You can get the point across without actually showing them have sex. They did with all the other scenes. You can tell adult themes in a story without giving a play by play before our eyes. The novel is not graphic in any way and yet tells a wonderful story about God's forgiveness and His redeeming love for all of us, no matter our past. You also don't get to know Sarah/Angel as well in the movie as in the novel and don't really see how unworthy she feels because of the life she's led. The movie is based on a Christian novel and often such movies are something that church groups and youth groups attend together. Unfortunately, because of the unnecessary sex scenes in the movie, it isn't appropriate to do so. The story in the novel isn't an easy one - prostitution, adultery, child sexual abuse, incest - but it still tells the story in a way where you are deeply affected without having those acts played out for you. The film doesn't play those acts out, either, but playing out the sex between the main characters spoils what could have been a much better film. Do I recommend it? No. It will be quickly forgotten because it doesn't leave a lasting impression. Read the novel. It is a story that stays with you and you never forget it.

I feel like I had been given a taste of a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake with passion fruit and cayenne filling and topping... whether it was intended or just a happy accident... On one side we have a horrifyingly sad, a bit too tragic than expected for this kind of a movie, story of a damsel in distress (the latter unbeknownst to her self). On another side we have this cheesy, a bit too idealistically painted ideal and patient young man with idillic dream for life.

Enjoyed the whole two hours enough, will leave it at 5 though - will gladly come back to give it a 10 when I myself meet that worthy of this Michael name man.

This movie is painfully shallow. The characters have no believable motives for anything they do. Every decision feels random and forced.

Adding to that, silly teenage music plays almost every time something happens, completely killing any mood the story tries to build. The plot is extremely predictable, offering no real surprises or tension at any point. You can see every twist coming from a mile away. It feels like the writers didn't even try.

If you give this movie more than a 5 out of 10, it probably means you have very low standards and are easily impressed by anything thrown on a screen.

This is a decent soap acted out be relatively unknown actors and directed by a relatively unknown director. The hooker with a heart of gold is not exactly a new story line, despite the fine novel written by Francine, so despite her erudite handling of the subject matter, the big screen will, sooner or later, get down to basics. Those basics will include the audience suspending disbelief at the likelihood that either person in this relationship will be able to function without any long-lasting damage or effects from the unfortunate events that occurred previous to their meeting. It would be lovely to think that love can conquer all, but in real life, that does not generally happen. Add a star if you are a soap fan.

Overall this was a good story but not for younger audiences. They tried to please both young Christian content and also more mature/grittier content and this did not come across well. Some of the content was really quite intense, not so much in images, but as to what was protrayed, and this is unfortunately probably true to some of real life in that time period. They could have just leaned more into this, portraying the hardships of life in that era, and still keeping the message about finding your faith instead of trying to be wishy-washy both ways. This just didn't work, and it should have been R not PG-13 due to the heavy content.

Yeh okay, this movie did not do the book justice.

I saw the trailer for this movie and thought it would be amazing, but the whole time I felt like the movie was just scratching the surface.

For the love of god, if you're going to transform a book into a movie, make it a mini series!! Books hold important details!! Important details that add so much emotion and depth to the characters and to their stories.

I mean the amount of people they left out from the book in this movie is just straight up criminal. The book EXPLAINS why the characters are the way they are.... And if you're going to cast the male lead as some scrawny cowboy, instead a tall broad shouldered man like he was meant to be in the book, AT LEAST MAKE HIM SOMEWHAT MANLY.

Just please, read the book if you want to fully understand the beauty of this story.