In the Land of Women

nice

The cereal Grape Nuts is a very deceiving name because it is neither grapes nor nuts. In the Land of Women is like Grape Nuts, it is a movie trying to be a drama and a romantic comedy, but it is neither. It ultimately falls so horribly short of both it leaves you wondering what genre it is supposed to fit in. In the Land of Women is a story about a young * screenwriter (Adam Brody) from LA who has just been dumped by his actress/model girlfriend. Still sore from the break-up he decides to move to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother, and to get away from LA. Once he moves to Michigan he starts to befriend the mother (Meg Ryan), and daughter Lucy (Kristen Stewart) of the family who lives across the street. What continues from there is a brief melodrama of Adam Brody struggling with feelings for Meg Ryan, Lucy, and his ex-girlfriend. The script had two major problems, the first being there was almost zero character development. The film opens when AB is being dumped by Actress and by the third scene he is already leaving for Michigan. Once there he starts to get to know the other family so fast their characters come across as empty. The exception was Meg Ryan because of Meg Ryan being able to add so much in so little time. The second problem was that it seemed like it was half way finished. As if the screenwriter was still revising it and getting ready to write the climax. When the credits rolled it felt like it was still in the middle and suddenly the filmmakers got tired and decided to just end it. The director definitely did not help, or make use of the wonderful cast he had. The acting was good, but because of the poor character development and script; it hurt the performance put out by Adam Brody and Kristen Stewart. Meg Ryan was able to salvage her role just enough to make her character the only one worth watching, but even her performance was unable to make the whole movie worth watching.

This new film starring Adam Brody of TV's "The OC" might win some kind of prize for sweet wishy-washiness were it not for the feisty grandma played by Olympia Dukakis -- an attempt to achieve "edge" that will, however, be instantly blown away if you watch a couple minutes of the late, great Nancy Marchand playing Tony Soprano's deadly mom. A well-meaning effort with scenes punctuated by lite rock, In the Land of Women is essentially about Adam Brody, a rangy young man of undeniable charm who resembles the young Tom Hanks -- except that he's cuter -- and has a lot less to do here than Hanks did in his early films. Meg Ryan is "taking her first cautious baby steps in a maternal, older-woman mode and maintaining her footing," Stephen Holden of the NYTimes says. But Ryan maintains her "footing" by simply acting the same starry-eyed blonde she's always been, albeit with a serious challenge to face (breast cancer--but all is well by film's end). Ryan looks like Brody's older sister, not a Mrs. Robinson, and the comparisons to The Graduate seem hard to credit. A few walks and a kiss do not a sexual coming of age make, but anyway Carter Webb (Brody's über-WASP name in the film), being 26 in 2007, doesn't need an intro to sex. He's had that earlier, doubtless long before the relationship with Latina movie starlet Sophia (Elena Anaya) whose termination is the plot's ho-hum beginning. Being a LA movie brat like his brother Jake, Jon Kasdan makes Carter a marginal film writer (of soft-core *) born and raised in LA. When Sophia dumps him he goes to Michigan to watch over his putatively senile grandmother (or is she just preternaturally blunt? the screenplay isn't quite sure), escape from the source of his love pain, and maybe write the novel about his high school life that he's been futzing around with for over a decade. Who should be grandma's neighbor but Meg, here called Sarah Hardwicke, with a sexy blonde daughter, an adulterous husband, and a potentially tragic illness, just discovered? (Cancer: can a story like this go anywhere unsentimental with that?) From his weepy intro when he gets the gate from Sophia in a diner, Carter is nothing but a teddy bear, so it's appropriate that the novel he finally completes has "teddy bear" in the title. The "land of women" in question consists of Ryan and her character's two daughters, an inarticulate, put-upon teenager (Lucy: Kristen Stewart) and a prematurely wise younger sister (Paige: Makenzie Vega). And of course grandma Dukakis, whose words of unexpected wisdom are overshadowed by her repeated assertions that she is about to die. Dukakis' Phyllis is a shtick that never quite comes off. Is this really Michigan? All we know is the neighborhood is upper-bourgeois and that Meg's front yard contains masses of flowers in full bloom it would take a team of half a dozen full time gardeners to maintain. It could just as well be New Jersey. John Hughes and The Breakfast Club are mentioned -- a fatal mistake. Everything in this bland, well-meaning effort crumbles when compared to the livelier (and incidentally smarter) youth pictures of the Eighties, just as the fumbling plot line and clumsy hero pale in the light of Mike Nichol's seminal, razor-sharp Graduate. Perhaps Carter needs a posse of equally stymied contemporaries like the young men in Muccino's The Last Kiss to make this interesting. A Land of Fumbling Young Men might at least have room for more jokes. The film's only moments come in the interactions between Brody and Ryan, but they're only moments of possibility, not achievement. Why does Carter Webb run into a tree while jogging? Why does he get knocked down by Lucy's footballer boyfriend? Only to give him something to do. But he isn't going anywhere -- except back to Hollywood. This is not a terrible movie; it's just a feeble one.

so this was pretty much the most disappointing movie I've ever watched. the movie trailer was so deceiving. the trailer gives the illusion that the story revolves around carter (Adam Brody) and Lucy (whatsherface) but thats totally not what the story is about. it had so many stories going on. and half the time i was confused about what the story really was about. in the serious parts of the movie...most people in the movie theater laughed at the serious parts of the movie. Adam did a great job...but the overall story line was just ridiculous. this is a definite don't see movie unless you want to mock or you are extremely bored. basically it was stupid.

SPOILERS GALORE AHEAD! The cast is very good, the technical aspects of the film are fine, and the directing seems solid (not that the material is challenging), but the screenplay is a train wreck. Too many plots, no laughs, no drama, just an jumble of ideas. Any one of them might have made a good film, with a second as one sub-plot. But in this movie, you get 'em all: Slightly too-old guy falls for slightly too-young girl; Young guy falls for hot-ish mom instead of daughter; Woman deals with cancer; Woman gets closer to teenage daughter; Woman deals with cheating husband; Young guy moves in with ailing, unappreciated grandmother, learns life lessons; Teenage girl realizes she likes geeky sweet kid, not arrogant jock douchebag. ALL of these plots are crammed into the movie, along with a precocious-kid cliché, and none really pay off. Carter is a soft-core * writer, but this does not influence the plot in any way, nor does it inform us of his character--there's nothing "*" about him. His relationship with his ailing grandmother has no resonance and is played for laughs(and fails), and Carter learns nothing from her. Sarah must battle cancer knowing her husband is having an affair. She believes it's a secret, but daughter Lucy also knows. But husband Nelson is never called out and never confesses, and Lucy and Mom never learn that they both know of the affair. I kept waiting for the movie to focus--it never did. The soundtrack is a problem too. Great songs, but a loud pop soundtrack does not belong in this film.

Jon Kasdan (son of filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan) makes a most auspicious directorial debut with "In the Land of Women," an utterly charming and winning indie comedy/drama marked by interesting characters, complex relationships and delightful performances by a first-rate cast. When his fashion-model/actress girlfriend dumps him without warning, a "soft-erotica" writer by the name of Carter Webb leaves his home in L.A. to spend time with his eccentric grandmother in suburban Michigan. A 26-year old who hasn't been able to grab a hold of anything meaningful in his life thus far, Carter finds his world becoming even more complicated when he makes the acquaintance of a mother and daughter who live across the street from where he's staying. The beauty of Kasdan's screenplay is that we never know where the story is going to take us at any given moment. Moreover, the characters interact with one another in ways that are both believable and surprising, and no one is made out to be either a hero or a villain, a sinner or a saint. Carter is coping with the pain of a failed romantic relationship, while the two women contend with marital difficulties, suburban angst, adolescent rebellion and a life-threatening illness. Yet, for all the potential sturm und drang of the material, "In the Land of Women" maintains a light-hearted, lyrical tone throughout, thanks to witty dialogue and a full-hearted appreciation for the subtle little ironies and eccentricities of life. The performances could not be improved upon. Adam Brody makes Carter into a sympathetically vulnerable figure who, at the same time, can display a surprising amount of strength and intestinal fortitude when the situation calls for it. Makenzie Vega is sweet and charming as the literal girl-next-door who is quick to criticize her mother even though she doesn't know the woman quite as well as she thinks she does. But it is Meg Ryan as Sarah Hardwicke, the full-time housewife and mother, who truly excels in her role, turning a potentially two-dimensional character into a multi-faceted woman of surprising depth and emotion. With admirable restraint and understatement, Ryan conveys all the unspoken thoughts and feelings of a woman who is aware of the compromises she has made in life but who is far more wise and complex about the ways of the world than either her daughter or her philandering husband are willing to give her credit for. Finally, Olympia Dukakis seems to be having the time of her life playing an attention-seeking, doddering old woman who may not be quite as out of it as she wants others to believe she is. As director, Kasdan takes full advantage of the bucolic Michigan setting (though it is remarkably lush and green for October), as Carter and Sarah take long, leisurely strolls around the neighborhood, getting to know one another and establishing a lasting relationship. Like them, the movie is not afraid to take its time laying out its storyline and revealing the hearts of its characters. The result is an offbeat and deeply satisfying film that bodes well for the future career of its neophyte director.

I went into this movie because I had a few hours to kill and there wasn't anything else playing in my neighborhood movie theater that I was remotely interested in seeing. Even with no real expectations, this movie managed to disappoint. It was sooooo ssllooww, tedious and soggy. The main characters, at least in the part I saw, were whiney and unlikeable. After about 30-40 minutes, I was so bored that I could no longer convince myself that the waste of the $7.50 I paid for my ticket was reason enough to stay, and I walked out. Maybe I shouldn't be reviewing the movie at all since I didn't see the whole thing. I just wanted to warn others away from making the mistake I did. I want my money back. I want my time back.

Bad, bad, bad. Has the look and feel of a rejected TV pilot. Bland, predictable storyline. Pathetic characters(could Meg Ryan be more clichéd and annoying?), hackneyed dialogue (what's the deal with the Adam Brody character commenting about drugs in his high school in the presence of the little sister when they're at the shopping mall). Olympia Dukakis as the grandmother comes off as a clown. It's about time that Hollywood writers stop portraying seniors as irreverent, obscene malcontents. Which gets me to the casting, which was surprisingly good. How do you get JoBeth Williams and Olympia Dukakis in a movie like this? Meg Ryan is understandable with the slow slide here movie career is on, and, when you think of it, perfectly cast for her lame character. Kristin Stewart is beautiful and holds her own in her scenes, even with the less-than-mediocre writing. The little sister, Makenzie Vega, was hysterical singing in the car at the opening. Both seem like really promising young actors. Gotta give credit to Adam Brody for shouldering this train wreck. It was only at the closing credits that all was revealed when "Written and Directed by Jon Kasdan" rolled up the screen. Director Lawrence Kasdan calling in a few chips from some name actors for the sake of his kid. Someone please break it to him that joining the legion of Hollywood producers is his only hope. In sum, a Hollywood nepotistic time waster at its worst. Makes you glad there's a "writers'" strike.

I had been looking forward to this movie for weeks. Every time I saw a trailer or ad, I'd become really happy looking at it, and anticipating the film. Adam Brody is relatively new to being on film, not just in "The OC" capacity, and I throughly enjoyed him as Carter Webb. However, I thought that ITLOW lacked in what it mainly advertised, the plot of Brody and Stewart's character was a main lead in the ads, but I was unhappy to find that their scenes were very minimal and basically had little to the plot. Webb seemed to be the lost soul looking for guidance, which he clearly found with Meg Ryan's character. I love Meg Ryan films, but this was probably the first time I found myself pitying her character, and I saw her as almost weak and unfortunate. This movie did have its high points, I loved seeing the interacting between Webb and the younger Hardwicke girls on their "date," and some other moments between Carter and his grandmother. Yet, was totally let down after watching Lucy and Carter's "relationship develop." I suppose that this movie wasn't totally supposed to be about the relationships between Carter and Sarah, and Carter and Lucy, but more about the growth of the mother/daughter relationship, as I came to learn later. I thought the hype for this movie was overrated, and I was actually let down by some of it, but I do see that Adam Brody has a lot to offer in the future, and I can see him doing great projects now that he seen more in the movie capacity.

First clue is a dead give away, its called "In the Land of Women" and its written by a man.... This is BY FAR the most tasteless attempt at a movie that i have seen in years. Im sorry but all of you that commented saying that the director/writer did a great job are obviously mindless when it comes to cinema entertainment, your suspension of disbelief is so screwed up your probably enjoy half the movies Paris Hilton has been in, if not already own the full collection of her horrifying works. Not only is there no character development but the plot is ludicrous is an outrageous and mortifying attempt to grab watchers with horribly executed plot twists that did nothing but ruin any chance at the movie having any sense of taste or quality whatsoever... Im not sure what made me more sick, the fact the guy was crying through half the movie, a brutally ignorantly written script, or the terrible use of dramatization to emphasize just about every god damn thing that happened in the movie whether its petting a dog, or talking to a waitress... I cannot even begin to explain the clichés within the movie and how poorly executed they were, whether its long walks that "touchingly" lead the main character to mess around with the wife and mother in a family, the writer's attempt to surprise the watchers failed MISERABLY when the daughter proceeds to make out with Adam Brody and completely take a plummet with the plot into the utter depths of hell, the grandmother dies? oh my god i couldn't have foreseen that, wait no it was an obvious expectation, but of course is over dramatized, and the daughter with amazing artistic abilities painting made me want to shoot myself...including a sad attempt at a happy cheesy lame ending and finishing of a horrible drastically scarring plot..oh and the young girl falls for a kid who's acting could only be compared to the acting quality of a half dead emu, horribly awkward and it just makes you want to look away.. ..jesus his attempt at originality and captivation was so predictable it made me leave the theater and take a 10 minute break before returning to sit with my girlfriend who also greatly disliked this sad creation.