I'll state right up front that there was a time in my life that a loss not unlike the one portrayed in this film put me on Paxil for 2 years. But gee...I was never this depressed or this depressing! And mental illness seems to be the theme of this film.
We begin with Elizabeth Perkins as Rebecca Lott, the lead actress here. Depressed over her husbands death. She nailed it. Perfect depression and I would go so far as to say a depressing performance. I see that later in her career she played Wilma Flintstone. Enough said.
The we have Gwyneth Paltrow as her younger sister. It's a good thing that Paltrow's entire career didn't ride on just this film. The character is about an unlikeable as you'll find, and who likes a person who is more obnoxious than the person she is being obnoxious to? And by the way, I knew more about the birds and bees when I was twelve than Paltrow's college student character does.
Next we have Kathleen Turner as the stepmother. In most films you wouldn't really like this character, but among the four leads, she's the only one who maybe...just maybe...is somewhat normal (though unlikable).
Next up is Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi is a decent actress, although I'm not sure this role was a good choice in terms of career. At least you don't hate her character. It's just that her character is too dumb to realize she is the problem in the relationship (mixed race) with her husband, and this theme is never really explored in this film.
The other character of interest here is a painter played by Jon Bon Jovi. His character isn't explored much, other than his hunkiness; he's merely a plot device. But I have to tell you that one of the dumbest scenes I've ever seen in any film is a house painter doing his job in the dark of night. If you've ever done any exterior painting, you know this is ridiculous.
This is one of those films (based on a play) where you wonder why someone didn't say to the writer/director, "Guys...there's something really wrong here". In fact, the very best thing about this film is the title. After that, it's all downhill.
We begin with Elizabeth Perkins as Rebecca Lott, the lead actress here. Depressed over her husbands death. She nailed it. Perfect depression and I would go so far as to say a depressing performance. I see that later in her career she played Wilma Flintstone. Enough said.
The we have Gwyneth Paltrow as her younger sister. It's a good thing that Paltrow's entire career didn't ride on just this film. The character is about an unlikeable as you'll find, and who likes a person who is more obnoxious than the person she is being obnoxious to? And by the way, I knew more about the birds and bees when I was twelve than Paltrow's college student character does.
Next we have Kathleen Turner as the stepmother. In most films you wouldn't really like this character, but among the four leads, she's the only one who maybe...just maybe...is somewhat normal (though unlikable).
Next up is Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi is a decent actress, although I'm not sure this role was a good choice in terms of career. At least you don't hate her character. It's just that her character is too dumb to realize she is the problem in the relationship (mixed race) with her husband, and this theme is never really explored in this film.
The other character of interest here is a painter played by Jon Bon Jovi. His character isn't explored much, other than his hunkiness; he's merely a plot device. But I have to tell you that one of the dumbest scenes I've ever seen in any film is a house painter doing his job in the dark of night. If you've ever done any exterior painting, you know this is ridiculous.
This is one of those films (based on a play) where you wonder why someone didn't say to the writer/director, "Guys...there's something really wrong here". In fact, the very best thing about this film is the title. After that, it's all downhill.