Just saw the movie about and hour ago, and was disappointed. With the outstanding cast and decent premise, this should have been a stellar film in the vein of Say Anything meets the Last Kiss, but instead was a disjointed and shallow examination of modern suburban life. Step one, breakup crisis, step two, new location and new people (also going through relationship turmoil), step three, common issues to discuss providing attraction and intimacy. Need I go on? Individual performances were the only thing worth seeing this film for. Adam Brody tries too hard to pull a Zach Braff in this one, but his portrayal of his character was honest, and I think the audience came away feeling some kinship with him. Meg Ryan, almost always good in whatever role she takes, did a nice job of playing the trapped suburban housewife with the cheating husband and somewhat angst ridden older daughter. Kristen Stewart reprises her standard role of said angst ridden-misunderstood- feeling-unloved teen. It would be nice to see her in an action movie, or historical drama sometime, as I think that she needs to grow out of the roles that she's been put in as of late. So much potential, so little a box that she's confined too... but I don't know, she chose the film not me so kudos to her for doing what she does. The youngest daughter just doesn't look right for the character she plays... way too precocious for what seemed to be a 10 year old, though I think her character was supposed to be around 12. Olympia Dukakis was phenomenally one dimensional as the dying grandmother, and really added nothing but a reason for Brody's character to even be in Michigan. If she has been more humorous, say like Shirley MacLaine in Rumor Has it, I think she would have stolen the film, but the writers had her as a drugged up geriatric on her last leg. The teen who played Stewart's love interest at the end was good in his small role... would have been better if we hadn't only seen him in tiny scenes. Anyhow, I was disappointed, as this was a movie I really had wanted to see. I was hoping for something more fluid and with a clear message, but this film fell short of my expectations.
Review of In the Land of Women
