Eddie McClintock | Through the Shattered Lens

2022’s Miracle at Manchester tells the story of a high school community that is brought together by one potential tragedy.

Brycen Newman (Kory Getman) is a high school student and an all-around athlete, a star on both the baseball and the football teams. But when he faints during baseball practice and also suffers a sudden nosebleed in the middle of class, his father (played by director Eddie McClintock) rushes Brycen to the hospital. He’s told that there’s nothing wrong with Brycen, beyond the typical teenage growing pain. Take a Tylenol and don’t worry about it, he’s told. That night, Brycen is woken up by a blinding headache. Another trip to the hospital reveals that Brycen has got a tumor in his brain. Brycen is continually given hope, just to have it snatched away. At first, he’s told that the tumor has been removed. But then the tumor comes back. Brycen goes through chemotherapy and even prepares to be sent to Florida so that he can take part in an experimental treatment. No one has much faith that Brycen is going to survive but Brycen’s fellow students rally around him. The football teams shaves their head in honor of Brycen. A priest leads a prayer ceremony in the stands. Journalist Miles Himmel (Nick Avila) follows Brycen’s story and reports all the details, even though he firmly does not believe in miracles. (He even snaps at his young daughter when he hears her talking about a miracle.)

While this is going on, a local mechanic named Ed Hanson (a nice performance from Daniel Roebuck) is fixing cars and, for veterans, charging on a dollar. His wife, who happens to be a nurse at the hospital, tells Ed that he need to get more rest and he needs to come up with a better financial plan than only charging people a dollar for thousands of dollars worth of work. Ed replies that he has no choice. He does it for the veterans and the needy. Good for Ed. We need more people like Ed in the world.

Miracle at Manchester is the type of low-budget, overly earnest filmmaking that typically brings out my cynical side but I have to admit that I actually teared up a bit while watching this film. Some of that is for strictly personal reasons. I lost my mom to cancer in 2008. Last year, I lost my Dad to Parkinson’s. Right now, I’m still in a state where even seeing a hospital room in a film will trigger my tears. But beyond that, it was a heartfelt story and also one that was (perhaps loosely, I don’t know) based on a true story. The film ended with the footage of the actual Brycen. It got to me.

Speaking of my father, after he died, I was organizing his estate and I was surprised to discover that he used to regularly give money to Make-A-Wish. Two representatives of Make-A-Wish appear in this film. Again, I can be cynical when it comes to various charities but Make-A-Wish seems like a good group of people. I’m proud of my Dad for supporting them.

Bailey (Paris Smith) comes home from college and discovers that things have changed since she left.

For instance, her mother, Tina (Vanessa Marcil), is now a vegetarian! Also, Tina’s suddenly really into exercise and yoga and stuff. In fact, Tina seems to be happier than she’s ever been and that’s a good thing since Tina previously had some issues with alcohol. Of course, that’s understandable when you consider that her husband was mysteriously murdered a few years ago.

So, why is Tina so happy now?

Meet Hugo (Eddie McClintock)! Hugo is some sort of weird New Age massage therapist person and it turns out that he and Tina are going to get married! They’ve known each other for like two weeks and they’re totally in love! Bailey is like, “Mom, don’t you think things are moving too fast!?” and the previously cautious Tina is all like, “I love him!”

However, Bailey is convinced that her new stepfather has some secrets and it turns out that she’s right! But what exactly are those secrets? Why has he been using Bailey’s computer without permission? Why is he using her webcam to spy on her? Why is he constantly getting strange calls and why does he often seem to be distracted by something that only he sees? Even more importantly, why is Tina acting so weird? Whenever Bailey tells her about Hugo’s strange behavior, Tina just shrugs it off. Has Tina been drugged or brainwashed and what, if anything, does that have to do with Hugo’s secrets!?

I have to admit that, as I was watching this movie, I kind of related to Bailey. After my parents got divorced, I went out of my way to chase off any new guy who thought he was going to be my stepfather. It wasn’t that I wanted my parents to get back together because I knew they were better off separated. Instead, it was more that I resented the idea of some stranger suddenly showing up and expecting me to care about what he had to say or anything else. For a few years, “You’re not my father” was my mantra. You’re going to be stepfather? No way! Of course, for the most part, I was just being an immature brat and, eventually, both my mom and my sisters told me to grow up and knock it off. Unlike me, Bailey has good reason to be suspicious of her stepfather.

In fact, you could argue that she has a few too many reasons to be suspicious of Hugo. This film doesn’t leave much doubt that Hugo is a bad guy. From the minute that he first appears, he might as well be carrying a sign that reads, “I’m Evil, pass it on.” Amazingly, no matter how obviously evil Hugo may be, Bailey seems to be the only person capable of noticing. In fact, everyone else seems to be so oblivious to Hugo’s evil that I suspect that the film was meant to be at least a little bit satirical. With the exception of Bailey, everyone in the film is so incredibly dense that it’s hard not to believe that we’re not really meant to take any of them that seriously.

Anyway, we do eventually learn Hugo’s secret and it’s all pretty silly. Hugo is not only evil and creepy but he also apparently has a thing about coming up with ludicrously overcomplicated schemes. Fortunately, the action concludes at a cabin in the woods because it’s a Lifetime film and all true Lifetime films conclude at a cabin in the woods, or at least they should.

Anyway, My Stepfather’s Secret is an almost prototypical Lifetime film, with its untrustworthy male interloper threatening to tear apart an otherwise perfect mother/daughter relationship. Usually, in these films, it’s the mother who knows best but, in this case, the role are reversed. Enjoy it while you’re watching it and don’t worry about it afterwards.