They're like a flock of starlings chittering from a tree. Belson's screenplay affords plenty of gushy speechifying but has nothing profound to say. Certainly we should be leaving with swollen eyes, full hearts and sodden hankies, but our hearts are as empty as this long stretch of celluloid. There are fleeting incantations of the old Spielberg magic, a splatter of stars, an oracular old hobo in a deserted Quonset hut, but the alchemy is unsustained. What was perhaps a comfort to the widows of World War II evolves today as a fable for the sensitive male.
Life goes on.
Spielberg has given us celestial entertainment in the past, but even angels have trouble when dancing on the head of a pin. Always is rated PG-13.