fashionme-19082
I saw this after getting a leukemia diagnosis..watched it alone in a hotel room..I had a son and daughter...my son used to say the same things to me...great set-up for tears right?? Don't understand the ease with which Luke is able to just dump his family for Isabelle who doesn't seem to have any clothes other than leather or a burgundy sweater set...sorry these folks don't exist in real life. Why marry Luke Isabelle?? He has a young son but just "falls" out of love with his wife and leaves them?? I cry bullshit. Luke's answers are so maniacally 1 dimensional it frustrated me....and she is supposed to be some great photographer but is just willing to give up her career? Did anyone think the daughter was such a brat because Mom had issues when life focused on someone other than her? Too many questions, pretty house - pretty topical stuff but too many selfish adults in one movie to make any sense.
SummerHappiness
It's a very meaningful movie that explores life, death, love, forgiveness, joy, hope, jealousy, fear and pain from different angles from the angle of a mother, a lover, a parent and a child. The most interesting thing I found from this movie was the unconventional and definitely unintended friendship between the mother and stepmum. The selfless love they have for their spouse and the kids was so heart warming. It's a movie that will pull heart strings, put a heart warming smile to your face and leave you feeling inspired to expand your heart and mind to love others more, especially those in our lives who are hard.
lisafordeay
Julia Roberts from Mirror Mirror and Susan Sarandon from Enchanted team up in this touching drama about a woman named Jackie(Sarandon)who's husband(played by Ed Harris) divorces her and is now engaged to a much younger woman named Isabelle(played by Roberts)and has two children from her ex. Of course when Jackie first meets Isabelle she detests her and would do anything to get her kids back even if it was signing a contract to keep her kids. But Jackie of course in hiding a painful secret(yup what I am going to say is like what Nicholas Sparks would do in his novels been turned into movies). Jackie has cancer. Of course she doesn't tell her kids or her ex husband about it and would go to a private clinic to get herself looked after. But how long has she left to live? And will she get treatment?From the man that brought you Mrs Doubtfire and Home Alone as well as the first Harry Potter film,this is a real tearjearker to watch,especially near the end where I was left teary-eyed in the end. The cast was spot on. Susan Sarandon was excellent as the bitchy ex wife to Ed Harris who is dying of cancer. While Julia Roberts(sporting a much lighter hair-do than her frizzy curly red hair)was great as Isabelle the photographer that steal Ed's heart. The story to its credit has been done to death and like I have mentioned this movie might as well been made into a novel by Nicholas Sparks as it carries the same cliché as his novels(even though he never wrote a novel on this movie).Bottom line if you haven't seen it and if its on TV I recommend it to you or if you want you can just buy it on DVD.B-7/10
gradyharp
It is hard to believe that this film is 15 years old now: it is as fresh and refreshing as the year it was made. Much of that is due to the story that tends to be a bit Hallmarky (written by Gigi Levangle and manipulated for the screen by Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins and Ronald Bass) but with Chris Columbus' direction and a cast of incredibly talented actors is really works.Anna (Jena Malone) and Ben (Liam Aiken), the two children of Jackie (Susan Sarandon) and Luke (Ed Harris) Harrison, have to cope with the fact that their parents divorced and that there is a new woman in their father's life: Isabel (Julia Roberts), a successful photographer. She does her best to treat the kids in a way that makes them still feel at home when being with their dad, but also loves her work and does not plan to give it up. But Jackie, a full-time mother, regards Isabel's efforts as offensively insufficient. She can't understand that work can be important to her as well as the kids. The conflict between them is deepened by the sudden diagnose of cancer, which might may be deadly for Jackie. They all have to learn a little in order to grow together.The lightness of the film is highlighted with some very entertaining Karaoke takes on popular music as performed by mom and the kids and by a little Thanksgiving talent show. But over and above the cutesy schmaltz are a lot of well shaped statements about life and death and family. It remains a very fine movie. Grady Harp
AD
