Don't be too harsh on this film. A chick-flick? Perhaps, but lots more than that! This film is about women relationships with just the right touch of comic relief many of these films normally lack. Hats of for everyone who contributed to this film! A good script, great acting and stellar craftsmanship of director Curtis Hanson make this one hit the bulls-eye, or very close indeed. I expected a decent comedy, which - in part - it certainly is, but the performances are so good and the characters so alive and breathing that I soon forgot about the initial comic aspect of the film. Right from the start, the film sucks you into the story, which just ring true.
Two sisters with quite opposite characters, sexy, uneducated party animal Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and the somewhat dull responsible lawyer Rose (Toni Collette), are unwillingly confronted with each other. They learn that they can actually learn something from their deficiencies and combine the strands they have - with help from their grandmother - to improve their lives.
Curtis Hanson expertly directs in an appropriately modest fashion He knows his job and manages to focus on character development but doesn't forget to add the occasional comic relief. The cast shines with Cameron Diaz in what might be her best role so far. The still vastly underrated Australian Toni Collette, who shined as the vulnerable ugly duckling in MURIEL'S WEDDING (1994), is just perfect in her role a Rose, and there's Shirley Maclaine as the sister's grandmother with a somewhat low-key part, but she knows how to handle it, expertly. A treat!
Perhaps some minor flaws: The story takes some time to get going. A bit too much focus on Cameron Diaz's legs, which is completely unnecessary and Maggie's partial illiteracy and incapability to get a job might have needed somewhat more background or explanation. What beautiful woman, no matter how stupid she might be, could have any difficulty finding a job? Highly unlikely. But these are minor quibbles.
Worth your time, even if you are one of three guys in a crowd of three hundred women in the cinema;)
Camera Obscura --- 9/10
