I was working the night watch out of North Park’s long-defunct Citizen’s Video when The Secret first revealed itself to me. My curiosity was piqued, but it took months before I finally got it. Not “got it” in the sense of understanding. (What do you take me for?) Rather, “got it” in the sense of “the DVD couldn’t stay on the shelf long enough for me to take it home.” When I did finally sit down to watch it — well, at least the 40 minutes I was able to get through — it called to mind Disney’s The Flying Mouse and its message of, “Do your best, be yourself, and life will smile upon you.” The Silly Symphony preached a similar “laws of attraction” message, and it did so in one-tenth the time! This time ‘round, with Hurricane Hazel about to make landfall in Louisiana, former scientologist Katie Holmes trades in one cult for another to star as Miranda, a widowed mother of three trying to make ends meet selling fresh seafood. Enter Bray (Josh Lucas), a stranger passing through town and carrying a manila envelope outfitted with a conspicuous red wax seal, as though pressed by the ring of Richard the Lionheart. A college professor who minored in carpentry shot down my first complaint by quoting Einstein’s, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” But this modern-day Clarence has a sadistic streak. Through a series of mishaps, the envelope gets misplaced. Bray knows the contents, and rather than tell Miranda the good news, he lets her suffer. A shamelessly feel-good romance competently strung together by Andy Tennant (Ever After). You’d do best to watch it as the top-half of a double-feature with the Doris Day rom-com It Happened to Jane. (2020) — Scott Marks