'Louder Than Words' is moving but lackluster

If moral values and good intentions were the only criteria for evaluating films, director Anthony Fabian's Louder Than Words, the moving true story of a couple who single-handedly build a children's hospital after losing their young daughter, should be in line for a best-feature Oscar.

Sadly, annoying questions get in the way: Is this story compelling? Will it keep your attention for its 95-minute running time? Is it worth the ticket price?

Sadly, the answer is: not quite.

David Duchovny and Hope Davis deliver their usual level of solid, no-nonsense acting as John and Brenda Fareri, an affluent couple from Greenwich, Conn., who build often tasteless, if lucrative, suburban developments. He's a property developer and builder, she's an accomplished designer and interior decorator.

They live an ideal life with their four children - teenage triplets Julie, Michael, and Stephanie, hers from a previous marriage; and Maria, the vivacious, funny, smart tween daughter they had together.

The film's first third alternates between scenes of Maria living a full life with her family and the dying Maria at the small, crowded, badly appointed county hospital where she ends up after contracting rabies from a bat bite.

Played by the delightful child actor Olivia Steele-Falconer, Maria acts as the family's self-appointed glue, bringing joy to her otherwise distant father and pleasure to her siblings as they go through pre-college angst.

When she dies, the family falls apart.

Unable to cope with his emotions, John becomes consumed with the idea of building a world-class children's hospital. Everyone laughs at him, but he eventually raises the money, in the process rallying the family behind the project.

This story truly is inspirational and a lesson about civic responsibility. However, it makes for little more than a TV movie or a straight-to-video snack.

tirdad@phillynews.com

215-854-2736