A Season of Angels

Macomber ( Morning Comes Softly ) borrows heavily from It's a Wonderful Life while following three kooky angels on Christmastime missions to earth. Mercy's weakness for machinery has led to escapades with motor scooters and escalators; she is assigned to help Leah, a maternity nurse who has been unable to get pregnant, find her faith again. Goodness, who enjoys showing up on movie screens, must help Monica, a prissy minister's daughter, find love. And Shirley has to help Timmy, a little boy who has written to God asking for a father. Despite the contemporary setting, these tales have a dated feel. Monica falls in love with a cheesy private detective; her scant sexual experience with him convinces her they should get married. Timmy's mother dates a man to whom she is attracted mostly because he tutors her son in baseball. Leah is so obssessed with her desire for a child that she makes love to her husband at only the most propitious time for conception. Although the angels are amusing, the humans whose lives they mean to set right lack character; one ending is patently unbelievable, while the other two are predictable. (Dec.)