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IN HER SHOES Send This Review to a Friend
Curtis Hanson has directed a major movie, “In Her Shoes,” which was presented at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and is now in what should prove to be a popular commercial release. It is a colorful story of two sisters, one, Rose, a very responsible but frustrated woman played by Toni Collette, the other, Maggie, a sexy but ditsy and irresponsible dame played by Cameron Diaz.
Things change when Maggie looks up her grandmother at a Florida retirement community and a relationship between them blossoms, with Maggie taking on work responsibilities. Shirley MacLaine gives a restrained but moving performance as the grandmother. The film is filled with humor, heart and other ingredients that make it highly entertaining as well as a bit of a tearjerker.
But “In Her Shoes” earns the tears. The screenplay, by Susannah Grant based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner, is smart, well-constructed and filled with funny lines. There will be the temptation on the part of some to label it a “chick flick,” but that would be selling it short. It is a film for all to enjoy, since it deals with basic problems in character, relationship and life itself.
A big plus, and perhaps a surprise, is the nuanced performance by Diaz, who develops the character of Maggie into a full-blown person capable of change. It is a deep performance in a role that asks more than others she has taken, and she shows she’s up to the task. Apart from that, she is extraordinarily good looking and that inevitably adds an important surface glow. As for Collette, she has shown previously what a fine actress she is, and here she makes us care about Rose and hope she finds the happiness she deserves.
MacLaine handles the grandmother role with the know-how that derives from her long acting experience. She knows that less can be more and never succumbs to any temptation to go overboard but allows the emotion to build both for her and for Maggie by confidence in understatement. One would presume that director Hanson also communicated such assurance. A Twentieth Century Fox release.
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