A retired industrialist makes his dying wife's last wish come true, and returns to the ghetto he grew up in to establish a free reading room. Not everyone welcomes him with open arms, and he struggles to keep his little storefront library afloat and in one piece. The always-excellent James Earl Jones keeps this Hallmark story, based on true events, from collapsing into a syrupy mess. This may remind TV movie fans of another, more recent tele-drama, also based on a true events, about an educator (played by former FRIENDS star Matthew Perry) dealing with a class of unruly innercity students. Both of these TV films prove that inspirational, true-life stories need not be sappy.
Review of The Reading Room
