I would agree that the story of how the Make A Wish Foundation got started is worth telling. Unfortunately, I'd say that it's worth telling a lot better than it was told in this movie. Yes, this is a tug at your heart strings type of story. It shares the life story of Frank Shankwitz - an Arizona highway patrol officer with a troubled upbringing whose work brings him into contact with a young boy dying of leukemia - which ultimately motivates him to start the charity that has now become a behemoth. I suspect that people like this movie not because it's a great movie but because it tugs at the heart strings and tells the story of the start of a charity that no one could possibly have an issue with.Unfortunately, the truth is that I found the movie rambling - constantly cutting back to Frank's childhood, with a mother who didn't seem to care about him and who took him away from his father, with whom he didn't reunite until the events of this movie. I suppose that losing his father was a traumatic childhood memory for him - but it really seemed to have little to do with the basic point of the movie and, to me, it came across as filler - an excuse ultimately to introduce another opportunity to wring some tears out of the eyes of viewers. "Wish Man" never seemed to establish any real flow, and it was burdened by performances that I found less than stellar. Kudos to Frank Shankwitz, though, for starting what is surely one of the finest charities in the world. (3/10)
