Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Kentucky horse heiress discovers her husband has been less than faithful.
Biased, pithy comments: This is a fantastic cast. Really, really great, and they take a story that sounds like it comes off the writers' psychiatrist's couch and turn it into something eminently watchable. Unfortunately, the script shortchanges these fun characters and turns them into less interesting icons---the Cheatin' Husband, the Nice Other Man, the Gruff Father Who Just Needs To See His Own Failings, and The Cute Little Girl Who Needs To Ride The Big Horse. This shortchanging is very shortly changed in the part of the story that is the metaphor for the whole film, which is the story built around the horse competition. I just couldn't get worked up to care about the horse competition; I was having too much fun watching Sedgewick burn up her role as the sister. Plus, as a married man, I'd like to say that we aren't all flawed creatures in need of redemption from our women, despite what this film has to say. (One could almost stick the moniker ``Chick Flick'' on this film. But that would be mean.) So, in totality, a film that isn't telling a particularly interesting story, but telling it very well.
Other Notes: Sedgwick looked darn familiar, and with the help of the Movie Database, I made the connection; she was opposite Kevin Bacon in a killer American Playhouse movie called ``Lemon Sky'' in 1987. They're married, too, it seems. The warped view of men as philandering weasels is no surprise, given that the film is penned by the same woman who wrote ``Thelma & Louise.''
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands, Kyra Sedgwick.
Directed by: Lasse Hallstroem