Ladies first

>> Thoughtful teenage girls are sure to love the ambitious melodrama In the Land of Women

by CHRIS BARRY

Writer/director Jonathan Kasdan, son of fellow writer/director Lawrence “The Big Chill” Kasdan, and director of In the Land of Women (hmm, I wonder how Junior got the opportunity to make this picture?), comes out swinging with his debut feature film, an ambitious melodrama that nevertheless manages to rise above the fray to become an acceptable cinematic experience.

For this, Kasdan can thank his cast. The performances are, without exception, superb, which isn’t something you can say about too many Meg Ryan flicks, that’s for sure. But Ryan, Adam Brody, Olympia Dukakis, even child actresses Kristen Stewart and Makenzie Vega, effectively take Kasdan’s lacklustre script and succeed in turning it into something. And sure, while that something isn’t likely to resonate with many who sport a penis between their legs, as melodramas go, Kasdan’s effort generally manages to avoid the pitfalls that so often spell trouble for films of this genre.

Carter Webb (Brody), a struggling L.A.-based screenwriter, has just been dumped by his supermodel girlfriend and is feeling bummed—questioning the meaning of life and all that sort of stuff. He decides it’s time for a change of environment and heads off to Michigan to look after his demented grandmother (Dukakis) who keeps telling an un-listening world that she’s getting ready to die. While there, he gets close to the female members of the family living across the street, Sarah Hardwicke (Ryan) and her two angst-ridden daughters Paige (Vega) and Lucy (Stewart), who all promptly get the hots for him.

Brody soon becomes a confidante of sorts to the troubled family. And troubled they are: not only does Ryan have breast cancer, but her neglectful hubby is having an affair and she’s chronically estranged from her eldest daughter, a situation made worse after she accidentally witnesses sensitive heartthrob Brody making out with her one night.

Eventually, through his relationships with all these chicks, Carter learns a few important life lessons and comes to realize that his own problems ain’t so bad after all. It’s all pretty sappy, most certainly, but thoughtful teenage girls—and maybe even some of their mothers—will no doubt love this movie.

In the Land of Women
opens this Friday, April 20

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