Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
12 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
boring., October 30, 2007
I had tried to get my boyfriend and a friend or two to see this in the theatre with me, thank god no one agreed and I didn't waste the money. I usually love drama with some romance mixed in and character driven plots. I was excited to see this movie and popped it in the DVD player immediately. I'm not going to go through the 'synopsis' because you can usually find that in the description and I don't want to tell anyone too much or too little.
What I will say -- I found this movie to be boring and pointless with no direction or real plot. It was just a bunch of random conversations between Meg Ryan's Character and either her kids and husband, or the kid across the street(Adam Brody). Almost everyone is acting irrationally and/or wacky. The only entertaining character was Adam Brody's grandmother.
Something that made no sense, was that Meg Ryan's character and her daughter will without warning drop huge bombs about what's going on in their lives to a stranger! Meg Ryan's husband's character was very confusing. You start out thinking "oh, he's a good guy" but then they tell you things about him and you think "why is she with him?" but his actions do not back up the information about him. He's definitely not a multi-faceted character.
Brody's character is driveling and annoying. I usually really love character driven movies but this was just too much. Hopefully the writer of the script will improve or find another career. I would recommend 'upside of anger' over this.
|
|
|
112 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
Looking for Love in Seemingly Wrong Places, October 31, 2007
The Kasdan Family has made a significant mark on the better films of Hollywood and Jon Kasdan (writer/director of IN THE LAND OF WOMEN) holds those values of fine cinema intact. Having appeared as an actor in some films of his father Lawrence Kasdan (Grand Canyon, The Big Chill, Body Heat, Mumford, Dreamcatcher, The Bodyguard, etc), he has not only inherited his father's credo of making meaningful statements about life as we are currently living it, he has absorbed the fluid character development of those films and added his own sensitive touch with graceful dialog. He is a talent to watch.
Soft porn writer Carter Webb (Adam Brody in a very fine performance) lives in Los Angeles near his depressed mother (JoBeth Williams) and has just been dumped by his actress girlfriend Sofia Buñuel (Elena Anaya). When his mother learns of her mother's failing state, the distraught Carter offers to travel to suburban Michigan to stay with his grandma Phyllis (Olympia Dukakis). Once in picturesque Michigan Carter deals with his lovable but eccentric grandma and meets the across the street neighbors - mother Sarah (Meg Ryan in fine form), daughters Lucy (Kristin Stewart) and the younger Paige (Makenzie Vega), and errant husband Nelson (Clark Gregg). In this setting of a 'woman world' Carter is key to aiding the various maladies of each of the women while addressing his own disappointing failed relationship. The manner in which he intervenes by simply being present and tender and caring makes a positive impact on not only those around him but also on his own life and talent as a meaningful writer.
In what could have been a soupy chick flick Jon Kasdan has instead provided a script that has a healthy dose of homespun philosophy and has guided his multi-talented cast to offer some of their finest moments on film. This is an entertaining movie, but it is also a balm for viewers who have experienced life-threatening illness, broken homes, coping with the elderly, and ultimately coping with death. It simply works. Grady Harp, October 07
|
|
|
8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
So-so chick flick, April 25, 2007
26-year old Carter Webb (Adam Brody) is a struggling writer who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. With nothing else to do, he moves in with his grandmother and becomes involved with the family across the street, which includes an unhappily-married mother (Meg Ryan) and an angst-filled teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart).
The pop soundtrack and the gorgeous neighborhood where the movie was filmed are highlights of this movie; the woodsy setting is a perfect place for love to bloom. Well, something blooms between Carter and the mother and the daughter, but it's not quite love and not quite anything else. Adam Brody (playing a calmer version of his quirky Seth from "The OC") is too low-key to be a leading man (at least with this script). He fades into the background while Meg Ryan's needy wife takes center stage - but she doesn't grab our hearts, either. She looks too young for the part. Her character goes through a lot, but unfortunately, the story never quite hits a home run in the emotions department. It comes close, but falls short of real poignancy, which is not only a shame, it's surprising, considering it's a story about heartbreak, cancer, and death.
All in all, it's on a par with a big-budget TV-movie; OK, but not memorable.
|
Share your thoughts with other customers: 
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
More Product Details
System requirements
(63)
$14.99
(132)
$14.99
(42)
$14.99
(102)
$14.99
(122)
$14.99
(
Fewer Product Details
