Director Lasse Hallstrom attempts to combine two venerable Hollywood genres and several subplots in this nonetheless agreeable morality tale about the bad effect adultery can have on your marriage. Part women's POV romantic comedy and part Dixie family dynamics saga, this is a generational story about what it takes to make a marriage work. It's a little scattered and loose fitting and underdeveloped in parts, but there's enough warmth and bright comedy to make up for the defects, and the cast is fun to watch.
The script by Callie Khouri is familiar but clever with some good human observations and some nice twists. I notice that Khouri also wrote Thelma and Louise (1991), which may explain why, in this flick, it is the men who learn (and need) most of the hard lessons. Robert Duvall plays the still feisty patriarch, Wlyly King, who really needs to learn to loosen the reigns a little, while Dennis Quaid, who plays Grace's adulterous husband, needs to appreciate what he's got and to stop catting around. Kyra Sedgwick as Grace's sister helps him by kneeing him right where it hurts the most, and Grace, accidentally on purpose, nearly poisons him. (All part of his well-deserved and to be continued penance.) Sedgwick sparkles while being careful not to upstage "America's Darling" too often while Gena Rowlands as the mother is steady and sure.
Julia Roberts has become a great star and a great actress, and she is one of my favorites, but there is no question that she felt not entirely comfortable in this part. From the details of the script you can see that she is supposed to be a somewhat ditzy and naively outspoken woman, a southern belle with spunk, a mind of her own, and a desire to be something more than her father's daughter or her husband's wife. Julia got most of it right except for the ditzy part. She either wouldn't bend (maybe her agency advised against looking too weird) or Hallstrom didn't insist because Julia played this like Bogart always played Bogart, just like herself. You can see that the character of Grace Bichon is a bit out in left field because she leaves her daughter places or forgets to take her as she drives off in the morning. And then there was that outrageous confrontation at the woman's club where she stands up and demands to know how many other women have been sleeping with her husband. Something to talk about indeed!
But Julia stays Julia, and so the character is never developed as written. Nonetheless Julia Roberts is always wonderful, and although there is not here the effortless and nearly flawless style she was then developing, a style that culminated in her Oscar winning performance in Erin Brockovich, there is the undeniable down to earth charm and warmth that has made her so beloved by audiences that she can command something like twenty million dollars per.
Robert Duvall obviously had a lot of fun with his part, but I wonder if he realizes how much he looks like a bantam rooster in those riding tights!
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
The script by Callie Khouri is familiar but clever with some good human observations and some nice twists. I notice that Khouri also wrote Thelma and Louise (1991), which may explain why, in this flick, it is the men who learn (and need) most of the hard lessons. Robert Duvall plays the still feisty patriarch, Wlyly King, who really needs to learn to loosen the reigns a little, while Dennis Quaid, who plays Grace's adulterous husband, needs to appreciate what he's got and to stop catting around. Kyra Sedgwick as Grace's sister helps him by kneeing him right where it hurts the most, and Grace, accidentally on purpose, nearly poisons him. (All part of his well-deserved and to be continued penance.) Sedgwick sparkles while being careful not to upstage "America's Darling" too often while Gena Rowlands as the mother is steady and sure.
Julia Roberts has become a great star and a great actress, and she is one of my favorites, but there is no question that she felt not entirely comfortable in this part. From the details of the script you can see that she is supposed to be a somewhat ditzy and naively outspoken woman, a southern belle with spunk, a mind of her own, and a desire to be something more than her father's daughter or her husband's wife. Julia got most of it right except for the ditzy part. She either wouldn't bend (maybe her agency advised against looking too weird) or Hallstrom didn't insist because Julia played this like Bogart always played Bogart, just like herself. You can see that the character of Grace Bichon is a bit out in left field because she leaves her daughter places or forgets to take her as she drives off in the morning. And then there was that outrageous confrontation at the woman's club where she stands up and demands to know how many other women have been sleeping with her husband. Something to talk about indeed!
But Julia stays Julia, and so the character is never developed as written. Nonetheless Julia Roberts is always wonderful, and although there is not here the effortless and nearly flawless style she was then developing, a style that culminated in her Oscar winning performance in Erin Brockovich, there is the undeniable down to earth charm and warmth that has made her so beloved by audiences that she can command something like twenty million dollars per.
Robert Duvall obviously had a lot of fun with his part, but I wonder if he realizes how much he looks like a bantam rooster in those riding tights!
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)