Cast: Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, Raven Goodwin, Aunjanue Ellis, Clark Gregg, Jake Gyllenhaal, James LeGros, Michael Nouri, Dermot Mulroney
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Ted Hope, Eric d'Arbeloff
Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener
Cinematography: Harlan Bosmajian
Music: Craig Richey
U.S. Distributor: Lions Gate Films
Somewhere between the whimsy of a fluffy romance and the grit of an uncompromising character study lies the realm of Lovely & Amazing, a dramatic comedy from Nicole Holofcener that tells the tale of a mother and her three children. Lovely & Amazing is the kind of motion picture that can make you laugh one moment and cry the next. It is at times serious and at times very funny. But it is always perceptive, and that quality, more than any other, is what makes it worth a recommendation.
At first glance, there couldn't be four more different people than Jane (Brenda Blethyn) and her daughters, Michelle (Catherine Keener), Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), and Annie (Raven Goodwin). Jane is a good-natured, caring, middle-aged women. Michelle is trapped in an unhappy marriage while working an unfulfilling job at a photograph development shop. Elizabeth is a mostly unsuccessful actress who is questioning her career and her choice in men. And Annie, an adolescent African-American girl adopted by Jane, is struggling with the rigors of puberty. Yet there is a common thread that connects these women: insecurity about their personalities and bodies. Jane is undergoing liposuction to lose inches around her waist. Michelle, aware that her husband is unfaithful, contemplates dallying with an underage boy who finds her attractive. Elizabeth worries that she's not sexy enough to get the right roles. And Annie's answer to problems is to pig out on MacDonald's food, even though everyone comments that she's getting fat.
It's Holofcener's insight into the female psyche that makes Lovely & Amazing such an engrossing motion picture. The director displayed a similar aptitude with her women characters in her previous outing, Walking and Talking. She has recruited a talented cast to bring these characters to life. Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, and Catherine Keener (who co-starred in Walking and Talking with a not-yet-infamous Anne Heche) are all good. On the male side, we are treated to appearances by James LeGros (as Elizabeth's emotionally detached lover), Jake Gyllenhaal (as the teenage object of Michelle's fantasies), and Dermot Mulroney (as a big-time Hollywood actor).
This is not the kind of motion picture that will find much favor in multiplexes, but the strength of character development is such that it almost certainly will uncover a healthy audience in art houses. Holofcener crafts each of her characters carefully, showing their creativity and neuroses. And, while there's plenty of humor to be found in this 90-minute feature, there's never an occasion when we're laughing at the characters. We come to like these people, warts and all.
© 2002 James Berardinelli