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"Lovely and Amazing" is a fairly entertaining movie which
deal with subjects as diverse as sexless marriages, liposuction,
eating fast food, statutory rape, abandoned dogs and the movie
business. And even though the film is about the relationships
that exist between several women and the self image problems that all
of them have, I almost got the feeling that the ultimate theme of this
film was that women can be jerks and neurotic human beings just as
much as men can.
We are soon introduced to the central characters in the film, all who
happen to be in the same family. Jane, the mother, is about 50
years old, divorced and raising an eight-year old adoptive daughter,
and is about to undergo liposuction. The eldest daughter,
Michelle, is trapped in a loveless and sexless marriage and considers
herself an artist. Elizabeth is Michelle's younger sister who is
an actress but has severe low self-esteem. Then there is Annie,
the young adoptive daughter who is overweight and who just happens to
be African-American.
Jane undergoes her liposuction which results in severe medical
complications which threatens her health. Michelle decides to
finally get a real job and soon begins a relationship with her
underage teenage supervisor. Elizabeth has a fling with a well
known actor in hopes that she can convince him, and herself as well,
that she is in fact a sexy woman in order to land a part in a film.
Annie, as most eight-year kids will do, tries to act and look ten
years older than she really is. The movie proceeds with events
effecting all of the characters, all brought about by their common
obsession with self-image and confidence.
"Lovely and Amazing" has interesting characters and lots of
witty dialogue. All the actors and actresses put in fine
performances and are convincing displaying the neurotic and somewhat
dysfunctional characters that they display. So, what is wrong
with this film? Well, basically what's wrong is that these women
are just too unlikable for the audience to pull for and share a bond
with. Jane and Michelle come on so strong and at times so
obnoxious, that their characters seem too over the top and unreal at
times.
In fact, even though this is a female centered movie, it is the male
characters who are actually more real and convincingly played.
Although Emily Mortimer as Elizabeth does a great job portraying a
character with so little self-esteem that you wonder how she ever
desired to became an actress. And Raven Goodwin as the
eight-year old Annie almost steals the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal as
Michelle's underage boss proves again that his outstanding
performances in "October Sky" and "Donnie
Darko" were not flukes.
But ultimately, while this movie keeps you interested in what will
become of these characters, it needed to be more compelling and the
characters more likeable regardless of their neurosis, in order for it
to be a real winner. It's certainly not a bad movie and I
basically liked it, but I left the theatre wishing for more.
There are two many good actors and actresses in this film for it not
to have been a much better one.
-- Mike
( 2 1/2 out of 4 pops )
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