Movie Review: The Secret: Dare to Dream

The Secret: Dare to Dream is a classic romantic movie based on the bestselling self-help book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The book explored the law of attraction, a belief that thoughts positive or negative can impact your life. As someone who has read the book, I went into this movie with big hopes and let me tell you from the moment I started it, I didn't want it to end. 

Why was I excited to watch The Secret: Dare to Dream?
The Secret: Dare to Dream is directed by Andy Tennant, who is best known for some of my favorite romance movies, Hitch, Ever After: A Cinderella Story, and of course my all-time favorite movie Sweet Home Alabama. 

Who are the main characters in the film?
Miranda a struggling widowed mom of three and played by Katie Holmes.
Bray a traveling gentleman is in town visiting and spouts New Age wisdom and is played by Josh Lucas (who is one of my favorite romantic film actors).

The storyline of The Secret: Dare to Dream
The movie begins with Miranda calling the bank to get put on a payment plan, which is something I am sure a lot of people are familiar with. Struggling to make ends meet, this single mom of three works at a busy seafood restaurant in New Orleans. 

To make matters worse, Miranda finds out that she is in need of a root canal, which will cost her even more money - and unfortunately she does not have health insurance. And, just when you think things cannot get worse for Miranda they do when you learn a storm is brewing. 

Miranda leaves works and heads for the school top pick up her kids, but before she can even make it home she encounters yet another obstacle when she crashes into the back of a stranger's truck. The crash causes her bumper to fall off

What Miranda does not realize is that stranger is Bray who has come to town looking for her earlier in the movie and was carrying a large yellow envelope. At this point, you assume the envelope is just another bill Miranda has to pay as she has been getting herself into quite a bit of debt. 

Mystery man Bray offers to fix her van, and Miranda invites him back to her place so he can fix it there. Sure a single mom of three kids should not be inviting a stranger that she drove her car into back to her home. However, this part right her teaches us a lesson of allowing others to help us when we need it. Remember, positive thoughts negative or positive can impact your life. 

The storm arrives in the middle of the night, and Miranda finds herself moving her children into the bathroom for shelter. In the morning, Miranda and the children wake to find a tree in their kitchen and a huge hole in the roof. 

Miranda and the children both make remarks about why do bad things always happen to them, and honestly at this point you really want something good to happen for once. Take note that things tend to seem to go well for Miranda when Bray is around. 

Bray comes back the next day with a coffee in hand and to check on the family, he even offers to fix the hole in the roof for only the cost of supplies. 

Where things get complicated in The Secret: Dare to Dream
You start to fall in love with Bray and wish that he and Miranda would be together. Then you learn that Miranda has a wealthy boyfriend, who is also her boss at the restaurant and Bray seems to have a wife at home awaiting his return. The plot thickens when Miranda's boyfriend becomes her fiance. 

Meanwhile, the three children are growing attached to Bray, who is helping their family. The eldest daughter is during 16 and another girl is having a party that will have food trucks. Bray asks her if she would rather have 200 Instagram followers or a few close friends, and the girl replies a few close friends. That right there, was so powerful, and something that as a society we could really learn from. Another powerful saying Bray says to her is "what do you want?" and the girl responds that she does not know. Bray then says "if you don't know what you want, how can you ask for it?" Have you ever heard anything truer before? 

Later, the secret that ties Miranda and Bray together is revealed. The discovery infuriates Miranda and she sends Bray away from her home. The viewer is left to answer their own questions as to what happens to Bray and Miranda next - and I can't wait for you to discover the secret and what happens next. 

Final thoughts about The Secret: Dare to Dream
As someone who is a huge Nicholas Sparks romantic film buff, anything that is not by him I always set to an extremely high standard, and The Secret: Dare to Dream delivered. While Byrne's book The Secret had worldwide success when it was released and was extremely impactful - I don't think the movie led to that impact. However, I absolutely loved the movie and the lessons that came along with it. 

We are going through a year like never before, and while some of us are doing great, others like myself are struggling. I lost my job back in April and have applied to over 150 positions with no luck getting a job. Due to my unfortunate situation, I have found myself in the mindset of why do bad things keep happening to me. The movie was a good reminder that positive or negative thoughts can impact your life, and it really resonated with me. 

The Secret: Dare to Dream is the perfect summer 2020 release and as someone who loves romantic movies, this one is definitely worth watching over and over again. From the time to start the movie you do not want it to end.  

The Secret: Dare to Dream will be available to rent for $19.99 through On Demand platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, VUDU, and cable providers starting tomorrow Friday, July 31.

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