The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)

Directed by: Andy Tennant | 102 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Katie Holmes, Josh Lucas, Celia Weston, Jerry O’Connell, Sarah Hoffmeister, Aidan Pierce Brennan, Chloe Lee, Katrina Begin, Sydney Tennant, Yohance Myles, Jessie Terrebonne, Rosemberg Salgado, Samantha Beaulieu

It is a sign on the wall that a self-help book serves as a source of inspiration for a rom-com. The ideas definitely resemble in Hollywood. Rhonda Byrne’s 2007 self-help book ‘The Secret’ became a worldwide hit, including Ophray Winfrey, who promoted the document on her show. Byrne’s board had been bought and in 2020 this lady hoped to further boost her bank account by having her book made into a movie. The corona crisis threw a spanner in the works, as a result of which this production appeared and disappeared from the Dutch halls fairly anonymously.

‘The Secret: Dare to Dream’ centers on Miranda Wells (Katie Holmes). After the death of her husband, Miranda is left alone to raise her three children. When a hefty storm comes up, things change in her life. This is how the mysterious Bray Johnson (Josh Lucas) comes into existence and that is a good sign. Miranda discovers that she is more comfortable in her own skin. What Johnson does not immediately reveal is that he has a secret.

A self-help book like ‘The Secret’ revolves around visualizing what you want and what you – according to yourself – are entitled to. The power of the universe. Floating nonsense for one and meaning for the other. In this film, the message of the book is conveyed and that is a special viewing experience. Reading a self-help book is different than watching a movie about a self-help book. You can apply a book to your own situation, past and life while a film is about characters. That is exactly where the problem comes in in this film by Andy Tennant.

The characters are sympathetic, but made of cardboard. Tennant is lucky with his cast, because Holmes and Lucas score points purely on charisma. They manage to give the faded characters just a little more air. You grant them their happiness (which they are responsible for according to the book). ‘The Secret: Dare to Dream’ is a nice genre film and that is already beyond expectations when you consider that a self-help book served as the basis for this production.