HEAVEN SENT Movie Review & Giveaway

Watch HEAVEN SENT on Pure Flix starting February 3rd!

Elise is a grandmother whose entire world revolves around raising her grandson and running her soap-making business. Patrick is a widowed pastor who is busy with his church. Neither one of them is seeking a relationship right now.

But with a little help from Elise’s grandson, will romance find a way?

The new Pure Flix Original movie, HEAVEN SENT, is a fun and heart-warming romantic comedy about love in all different seasons of life. It will be enjoyed by everyone from teens to seniors!

I actually found the relationship between grandma and her grandson to be the most compelling part of the movie. Read my review below to learn more.

Cast

Karen Abercrombie as Elise (War Room, Discarded Things, An Angelic Christmas, God’s Compass)
Jemarcus Kilgore as Derek (Discarded Things, Black Lightning)
Leon Pridgen II as Patrick (Discarded Things, P-Valley, Trinity Goodheart)
Charlene Tilton as Pam (Dallas)
Gary Dourdan as Jeff (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
Michael J Patterson as Kenny
Elizabeth Byland as Theresa
Maurie Moore as Corrine

Themes

Letting go of children/grandchildren
Family over fame
Second chances
Finding love after loss, or later in life
Miscommunication
Getting over misunderstandings

Review

Although the trailer for this movie focuses on the premise of the older cast members finding love, HEAVEN SENT is really several intertwined stories about various people in different stages of life. There’s the main plot of the senior pastor and grandmother. There is a young married couple experiencing conflict in their relationship and being counseled by the pastor. There are a couple of online friends who are getting to know each other. There is an older single woman trying to find her “superman.” There is the love of a grandson for his grandma, and vice-versa. There is also the love between two longtime friends.

Elise hangs out with her best friend in a meditation room adjacent to her soap shop. (I keep subconsciously wanting to spell the movie title “Heaven Scent” because the characters are always smelling scented soaps, LOL!) Hurt by her past, Elise is skeptical about trying to find love again. But at the urging of her friend, she allows herself to be open to the possibility as she starts to date a widowed pastor; and in turn, he guides her back to rebuilding her relationship with God.

Pastor Patrick lost his wife five years ago. His parish tries to play matchmaker, but he resists. One day the pastor is lost and finds his way into Elise’s shop, Moxie Mercantile (the movie was filmed on location in Charlotte, NC). However, their first interaction is less than ideal. Then Patrick and Elise run into each other at a singles night event that their friends talk them into attending. They hit it off this time and decide to meet up again for dinner, insisting it’s “not a date.”

Elise is an easy-going free-spirited person with a Christian background, but past events in her life have caused her to step away from her faith. We find out later that Elise actually gave up a fabulous career to take care of her grandson, Derek. The two were inseparable when he was a child, and the movie shows flashbacks of them having fun dancing and doing experiments in the kitchen. They’re not only grandma and grandson, they’re best friends.

The movie doesn’t say, but it’s likely Derek was homeschooled because now that he’s older he complains about always being under his grandma’s wing and never getting out to meet other people his age. She seems to have not noticed that her grandson is all grown up, and she’s having a hard time letting Derek live his own life as an adult. He complains to his online friend, “I am 19 with no friends and no life – that’s not normal.”

He’s even starting to hide things from her. Derek uploads a video of his grandma online without her knowledge. When she has the pastor over for dinner, Derek live-streams their budding romance. He continues to record and post about his grandma’s love life, which goes viral on the internet. Of course, it won’t be long before she finds out! But her new-found social media followers actually come to the rescue in a time of need.

Karen Abercrombie not only starred in the movie as Elise, she co-wrote and executive-produced the dynamic and heartfelt story, which was directed by Joanne Hock. “The theme is love – romantic love and the love of God,” Abercombie said. “It’s about trusting God’s plan and allowing Him to lead you through transitions in your life.”

HEAVEN SENT will debut exclusively on Pure Flix on February 3, 2023.

About Pure Flix

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Giveaway

Enter to win a free 3-month subscription to Pure Flix! Simply leave a comment below to enter. (Note: This is limited to US winners only, and only to those who have NOT won a subscription in the last 6 months.) A winner will be chosen on 2/14/2023. Be sure to leave your full name and email address in order to receive the prize if your comment is chosen. (P.S. Comments are moderated, so yours may take a while to show up.)