Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Nice scenery, interesting character cast. Could have been subtitled, "The Ladies of Mercy Ranch". This must have been promoted to Lifetime Network as an afternoon movie for women. Lots of bonding between the sisters, a hot tub with candles and wine, trying on dresses, and other "girl" things. There are enough pickup trucks, horses, gunshots, and mild action scenes to keep the guys interested, but the ladies will enjoy this film much more.

Montana Sky opens with the death of the family patriarch, a man named Mercy who like Ben Cartwright fathered three children legitimately, except in his case it was daughters instead of sons. But a role model like Lorne Greene this guy wasn't. One daughter Ashley Williams stayed home and learned the ranch business. The other two were from trophy wives, Charlotte Ross and Laura Mennell. Ross is a screenwriter and Mennell is hoping to escape from a batterer whom she married.For the zillionth time an eccentric will is the thing the plot turns on. The estate after a couple of cash bequests is worth 24 million dollars and the half sisters who don't know each other have to live and work the ranch for a year for any of them to inherit any of it. Eight million dollars is a mighty powerful argument to induce the sisters especially Ross to stay and make a go of it. Poor Mennell just wants to find refuge.There's also someone slaughtering animals in a particularly sadistic way on the place. It could be Mennell's ex-husband Scott Heindl or maybe someone else also has a grudge. I have to say that the three women had some nice chemistry between them or otherwise Montana Sky would not have worked. The vast western vistas are really something, better than the mostly studio based photography on Bonanza. Ross especially impressed me as she essayed a character who saw some considerable growth in character over the course of the story.That's worth seeing Montana Sky in and of itself.

Charlotte Ross and John Corbett saved this movie. So did the character Nate the Sheriff. This movie was more enjoyable than Angels Falls (the first Nora Roberts movie by Lifetime) - it's overall a better story, a better executed adaptation and has better casting. I might even watch this again for the fun of it. Especially for Charlotte Ross's saucy part.What was off with this movie was the casting of one of the main characters and the need to adapt a longer, more involved story with so many characters to fit a two hour movie. This should have been a two-part serial, at least, to do it all justice. Still, not a bad job for a TV movie.Lily was just horrid. They actually could have and should have left her character and storyline out completely. It would have enabled a better adaptation of the rest of the story. Her character was bland - the acting without depth - and the storyline rushed and silly so she never had a chance to portray anything else (I might be being too charitable). There was even a plot hole at the beginning - how did the ex happen to end up being a mechanic in Montana just where she ended up? Well, the story would have been just fine without Lily or the half-brother and that entire storyline. The removal of 1 sister from the plot wouldn't have been so criminal in light of the short-shrift keeping it in did to the rest of the movie. If not cut her out entirely, keep her only as an occasional catalyst for the two interesting sisters and cut out the separate storyline.The other sister, Willa, was okay. The little Williams sister was good, she just didn't evoke a lot of sympathy with her one-note portrayal. Some of that could be put down to the adaptation - we only knew about her loss and suffering from other characters talking about it, she never looked like she was having a struggle. Her work with John Corbett made her the most interesting she could be. So did her work with CR. It doesn't hurt that she's cute.JC didn't seem cowboy to me - actually, he seemed more cowboy at Aidan on SITC.The scenery, lighting, sets and costume were all well done, unlike in Angels Falls. This time around the lovely hair and make up didn't detract from the story, the women are all lovely enough to carry it off without being distracting (as in the waitress in AF).This is a 7 out of 10.

I've read the book and of course the book was so much better. However, putting aside that fact, I found this movie lacked....appeal. It was very hurried, which is expected for a 90 minute flick, but it had no, depth to the film. There have been many adaptations from novels to movies that have been wonderful. If this movie had its own zeal and personality, I don't think I would complain about the way it was done. However, it was very...damsel in distress, no brains, and kind of dull. If the chemistry was better, if the actresses added more personality I think it would have been brilliant. I've been looking forward to these movies since I heard they were coming out. I'm not saying this movie was terrible or anything, I am not saying "well the book was like this," I'm just saying it was dull.