Lovely and Amazing (2001)

Blah.

There's just not much to this movie. I really enjoy Catherine Keener and Jake Gyllenhall normally, and this film was no different. Other than them, there's really nothing remarkable about this film.

One major grumble- the plot is stretched so thin as to be nonexistent. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that this film has no plot. No character development, no resolution of conflict, no nothing. I would say it's nihilistic but I think that a film has to at least _try_ in order to be considered nihilistic. It's like watching a weird kind of reality show that gets sentimental about its subjects. Maybe that's the tone the movie was trying for. Even if that's the case, I'm wildly unimpressed.

I will say that the trailers before this film were extraordinary, though.

Fmovies: Look into nearly any family, and you can find dysfunction. If I'm going to spend 90 minutes watching a movie about a neurotic, middle-class white mother, her two neurotic, middle-class daughters, and an adopted black girl with self-esteem issues and an eating disorder, I want there to be a story related to their dysfunction, not simply a slice of their exasperating lives. I want people to change, mature, transform. I want interesting things to happen to justify watching unaware, immature, self-absorbed, self-destructive behavior for an hour and a half. But that's all this film gives, unless you count the reminder that all men are unsupportive, insensitive, philandering pigs.

Clearly, I'm not in the target demographic.

I was really impressed by the solid characterizations and the comfort Holofcener has with the story and the script, even among the uncomfortable issues it raises. Finally, a feminine anti-hero film that does not attempt to make any statements about Women or Men, but just gives roles to women that are refreshingly human. The characters are often unsympathetic, but that makes it work so much the better. Shooting in HD video is the best choice over regular DV, and it is almost believable to be film. A solid film and worth seeing!

Lovely and Amazing fmovies. My first question in evaluating a movie is, "Why should I care about these characters?" There was no reason to care about any of these characters, and if a film doesn't start out "hooking" me into caring, I get irritated with it. These women were annoying, self-absorbed, unlikeable, and demandingly selfish. I tried to care, but was glad that I had kitchen work to do while I watched it or I'd have given up on it as a waste of time. The only reason I give it a 3 is that the acting was OK.

Why do "women's movies" think that we want to see real-life to the point that there is little redeeming value to what the characters are portrayed as going through? This movie reminded me of a person I work with who comes in every day assuming I'll be thrilled to hear about the boring details of her life and relationships.

Stanley Kubrick's line, to me, sums my impression of this movie up completely.

It was real, but it wasn't interesting.

In all fairness, all of the lead actresses in the movie engaged me at one point or another, at least briefly. But the integral thing about their characters was that they were shallow, and remained shallow at the end.

Which is real, there are certainly people in the world who are shallow and remain shallow.

But it isn't especially interesting.

I was really impressed with this film. It manages to avoid all of the cliches you frequently see in Hollywood films about women and present an honest and often amusing picture of the characters' lives.

Catherine Keener is a real stand-out and I can't say enough about Raven Goodwin's performance.

This film isn't just about women. It's about the way we all see ourselves.