moonspinner55 Review of Violets Are Blue...

Violets Are Blue... (1986)

Handsome, but dull, vapid example of the Woman's Picture...

[4/10 · 28 April 2006]

In a picturesque coastal town in Maryland, a married family man is reunited with an old sweetheart, a pretty photographer who's been traveling the world for the last fifteen years. Putting freshly-scrubbed Sissy Spacek in the role as 'the other woman' doesn't really sit right with us because, basically, it's tough to swallow Spacek as the proverbial homewrecker. Sissy's real-life husband Jack Fisk directed the film, and although he sets up some good-looking shots, he doesn't feel the need to involve us in this character's thoughts: does she have a selfish agenda or is she removed from all the confusion and heartache she causes? The screenplay is a limp, squashy mess--a compendium of Woman's Picture clichés--and Kevin Kline doesn't have much to do but stare at others thoughtfully or look conflicted. *1/2 from ****