Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
airtexaco Gosh, the stereotypes here... Mom and Dad have southern accents and are from Texas. Dad wears a hat that has Texas on it and an American Flag shirt that says 'Hardcore American' . But wait, they are not happy with their two daughters spouse choices... So this is what es as tolerance? This movie is full of left wing tolerance and of course the only people who 'grow' are the conservatives from Texas. It made the movie unwatchable. All of the cast is talented, why would they choose to be a part of this?
claytonchurch1 I would have loved to have given this movie a 9 or 10, but couldn't. First, the wonderful elements of this movie (two categories), from lesser to greater: 1. Four great roles, with four great actors, doing wonderful work: Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Timothy Olyphant, and Julia Roberts, all doing some wonderful work in their characters' roles, whenever the script and plot will allow them to do so; 2. The fantastic, real-life themes this movie addresses: grieving for a deceased spouse who was greatly loved, grieving over a marriage now in divorce, the pain of rejection (in several characters in several ways), the pain of an ex-spouse's remarriage, being a single dad, being a single mom, conflicted feelings about an ex's new spouse, struggles with the unfairness of life, experiencing lack of appreciation from one's kids, insecurities that come with being adopted, deep regret over giving a child up for adoption, the hardship of divorce and the post-divorce relationship, and the fear of being rejected a second time by meeting one's biological parent(s). Wow: what a list. And all these are done well and mostly very honestly--really, really, with high quality. This is real-life stuff--stuff of real pain and sadness--and this movie nearly "knocks it out of the park" on these things, both in plot and acting. However, the plot fails many times these themes and does not allow these actors to bring the themes to the great, cathartic end they should have had. That said, there's another 50% of the movie that deals with other characters, uned changes-of-heart and renewed relationships, and plot-lines (huge cast; many stories going on at once, and that's OK) that I considered "throw-away." The story line of worth is that with the four characters I've named. 20% of the movie had me rolling my eyes, but the good parts, the good acting, the good lines, the real-life themes with which the movie deals make that WELL worth it, and push an otherwise "4" movie all the way to a "7" in my book. I almost gave it an "8." The movie's downfall is from its lack of awareness of what it is--the writer and director (mostly writer) didn't know if he/she was making a comedy, a tragedy, or a drama of mixed measures of hope. The movie is the latter two, but attempts comedy, with stupid characters (yes, I'm looking at you, sisters' parents, Dr., and Dr.'s mom). Fortunately, these things don't get in the way too much of the good half of the movie and plot-ilnes. Were the bad-half of the movie/characters removed, there would have been room (time) to develop the good half 40% more. This is going on my list of great movies that show the value of marriage and the hurt of broken relationships therein. Incidentally, Jason Sudeikis's "Hall " not only has a similar feel, but also a good message in the same direction.
disturbedtool68 The comedy wasn't funny, the drama and the resolutions were all predictable, and most of the performances made me feel uncomfortable. Not sure who owed who a favor, but this should have never been a feature film. It's basically an average Lifetime movie, but gets a slight bump only because of Jennifer Aniston, who always pulls off these safe familiar roles with some spark and even some depth, but that isnt enough to help save an otherwise horribly predictable and flat script.
