The new movie “Breakthrough” is one of those films that would never have a chance to be a good idea for a movie, unless it really happened. The story of a young 14 year old boy who fell through the ice near St. Louis Missouri in 2015 with his 2 friends and then survived after being dead for 45 minutes is nothing short of a miracle. This miracle is the reason this movie was made, with very religious undertones that in recent years appear in about 2 movies; all released around this time of year. As this type of religious movie goes, this was was one of the better I have seen since this new trend has started.

Breakthrough stars Chrissy Metz as Joyce Smith, the adopted mother of the boy who almost died. Metz has had a remarkable career resurgence in the last few years when she was hired for one of the starring roles in “This is Us”, arguably the best drama on television. Josh Lucas stars as the boy’s father and given Metz very obese status, the casting of Lucas did not seem to make much sense. Topher Grace plays the pastor of the local church and the conflicts between him and Joyce Smith were very well acted.

Most surprising was the fact that basketball player, Stephen Curry produced this movie, following Lebron James into movies and television production. I give a solid recommendation to Breakthrough for its acting and positive message.