At least you feel that Simmons has continually avoided the easy way out, and that should be enough to counteract any feelings of unease.
The movie has the vacant sentimentality and just the sort of grinding winsomeness that can make family movies such a chore.
New York Times
Lawrence Van Gelder
“
The sort of old-fashioned excursion into sentiment that ought to warm the hearts of parents in search of that elusive piece of merchandise that goes under the name of good family entertainment.
It all sounds like goo, and the film's last half-hour verges perilously close. But even at its worst The Optimists is acceptable family fare, and for much of its first 80 minutes it engagingly achieves a sense of fantasy.
