3 women

no, not THAT '3 women', although the film 'lovely and amazing' does seem to be aiming for an equivalent level of discomfort.

mother brenda blethyn (who is sadly underused here) and her three daughters have some problems, to say the least. blethyn's character begins the film with a liposuction surgery, which quickly goes wrong. the oldest daughter, played by catherine keener, would garner more sympathy for her lackluster marriage and dismal 'art' career if she didn't have a penchant for ending each and every conversation with 'fuck off!'. it's funny the first two times. emily mortimer, as the middle daughter, is the most likeable train wreck of the group, an excellent example of someone who should never have embarked on an acting career. she oozes poor self-esteem, from her constant pleas to her boyfriend for approval, to her painful self-aware walk. the youngest daughter is annie, adopted as an afterthought. annie is everything that could go wrong with childhood -- fat, aggressive, adopted, nothing in common with the rest of her family, not even skin color.

it's great that the characters are prickly and imperfect, but they're so dreaful that it's awfully hard to dredge up any sort of sympathy for them. the middle daughter is likeable enough, and annie may someday come out of her hard shell, but the oldest daughter is just a hair shy of completely irredeemable, and the mother replaces any character she may have with straight vanity.

the film veers back and forth between genres, from an indie project bent on shock and pain to an embarrassing chick flick. maybe if it could make up its mind what it was, i could make up my mind as to whether or not i liked it. yesterday after watching it, i thought maybe i did. today, writing, i'm not so sure.

i never thought i'd say this, but i would have rather watched '3 women' again.