Mike Binder both wrote and directed this searingly important film; important for its concept, for its ensemble acting, and for performances by Joan Allen and Kevin Costner that are now the gold standard for the year by which all other award quality performances must be judged.
Anger, and how it paralyzes our emotional outlook and alters our perception of reality and works to destroy those around us, is the harsh subject of this examination of a well-to-do family of husband, wife and four teenage daughters. The story is narrated by the youngest daughter Lavender 'Popeye' Wolfmeyer (Evan Rachel Wood) and never were the words 'out of the mouth of babes' so pertinent. The mother Terry (Joan Allen) is introduced drunk, constantly in her nightgown with glass of vodka in hand, and she pretty has spent her days in that manner since her husband Grey 'left her with his 22-year-old Swedish office girl' without a note, a call, or confrontation with his family. Terry is consumed with anger, self pity, loathing, and barely manages to maintain a household, completely relying on her four daughters to cook, clean, shop, etc while she finds reasons to berate them for every act and motivation the girls show. Hadley (Alicia Witt) is the oldest and enamored with a boy Terry considers a waste of time. Andy (Erica Christensen) doesn't want to go to college but to become a reporter instead - a fact Terry refuses to consider. Emily (Keri Russell) prefers to follow her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and attending an Arts College that, of course, Terry refuses to allow. Popeye, the youngest, is hungry for belonging and wants desperately to be noticed by not only her mother but by boys, etc.
A neighbor Denny Davies (Kevin Costner) is an alcoholic ex-baseball hero who now has a cheesy but popular radio talk show produced by his buddy Shep (Mike Binder, yes, the writer/director!). Denny has been friends of the Wolfmeyers for years and shows up drunk, warmly offering himself as a drinking partner to Terry. The two spend their time drinking and watching television and watching the daughters each arrive at crises: Hadley gets pregnant and announces her engagement to Terry after everyone else knows: rage from Terry and an embarrassing scene at Hadley's announcement dinner. Andy gets a job at Denny's radio show only to fall into bed with the lothario Shep: rage and a public fight from Terry. Emily somaticizes her career frustration and ends up in a hospital with an ulcer: self-pity and depression from Terry. Denny slowly works his way into Terry's bed and become a surrogate father/lover to these five father/husband-deserted women. The ending is a shocker and cannot be revealed because it would destroy the fine story line of the film. But it begins as it ends and that is the part that leaves the audience aghast that they didn't suspect that turn of event.
Binder's script and direction achieve the impossible: he is able to create a family in disarray, deal with every aspect of anger, desertion, family ties, mother/daughter love (though severely tested), the needs of the 'victim' and how they can be tended. Amazingly he does this with a large does of comedy, acerbic dialogue, restrained responses, and a keen grasp of reality that makes this a film about a tough subject one that is engrossing and never off-putting.
The entire cast is pitch perfect: each of the actors who portray the daughters is exceptional. But the brilliance that radiates from the screen is the triumphant performance by Joan Allen. She inhabits Terry and despite the fact that she has every reason to make us loathe her character, she manages to keep her portrayal so sensitively nuanced that we stay close to her in this journey. She is simply amazing in her body language, her understanding of alcoholic behavior patterns, and her internalization of her needs at the expense of her ever-surfacing rage. Much the same can be said for Kevin Costner who gives the finest performance of his career in a role that could be pathetic and negative in the hands of a less capable actor. His comedic talents shine, but not at the expense of his enormous sensitivity to the five women with whom he ends up living.
Alexandre Desplat has once again created a movie score that has perfectly beautiful passages of music while always underlining the story appropriately. The cinematography by Richard Greatrex finds the perfect vantages that seem like windows in the hearts of each of the participants in the story. Highly Recommended.
Anger, and how it paralyzes our emotional outlook and alters our perception of reality and works to destroy those around us, is the harsh subject of this examination of a well-to-do family of husband, wife and four teenage daughters. The story is narrated by the youngest daughter Lavender 'Popeye' Wolfmeyer (Evan Rachel Wood) and never were the words 'out of the mouth of babes' so pertinent. The mother Terry (Joan Allen) is introduced drunk, constantly in her nightgown with glass of vodka in hand, and she pretty has spent her days in that manner since her husband Grey 'left her with his 22-year-old Swedish office girl' without a note, a call, or confrontation with his family. Terry is consumed with anger, self pity, loathing, and barely manages to maintain a household, completely relying on her four daughters to cook, clean, shop, etc while she finds reasons to berate them for every act and motivation the girls show. Hadley (Alicia Witt) is the oldest and enamored with a boy Terry considers a waste of time. Andy (Erica Christensen) doesn't want to go to college but to become a reporter instead - a fact Terry refuses to consider. Emily (Keri Russell) prefers to follow her dream of becoming a ballet dancer and attending an Arts College that, of course, Terry refuses to allow. Popeye, the youngest, is hungry for belonging and wants desperately to be noticed by not only her mother but by boys, etc.
A neighbor Denny Davies (Kevin Costner) is an alcoholic ex-baseball hero who now has a cheesy but popular radio talk show produced by his buddy Shep (Mike Binder, yes, the writer/director!). Denny has been friends of the Wolfmeyers for years and shows up drunk, warmly offering himself as a drinking partner to Terry. The two spend their time drinking and watching television and watching the daughters each arrive at crises: Hadley gets pregnant and announces her engagement to Terry after everyone else knows: rage from Terry and an embarrassing scene at Hadley's announcement dinner. Andy gets a job at Denny's radio show only to fall into bed with the lothario Shep: rage and a public fight from Terry. Emily somaticizes her career frustration and ends up in a hospital with an ulcer: self-pity and depression from Terry. Denny slowly works his way into Terry's bed and become a surrogate father/lover to these five father/husband-deserted women. The ending is a shocker and cannot be revealed because it would destroy the fine story line of the film. But it begins as it ends and that is the part that leaves the audience aghast that they didn't suspect that turn of event.
Binder's script and direction achieve the impossible: he is able to create a family in disarray, deal with every aspect of anger, desertion, family ties, mother/daughter love (though severely tested), the needs of the 'victim' and how they can be tended. Amazingly he does this with a large does of comedy, acerbic dialogue, restrained responses, and a keen grasp of reality that makes this a film about a tough subject one that is engrossing and never off-putting.
The entire cast is pitch perfect: each of the actors who portray the daughters is exceptional. But the brilliance that radiates from the screen is the triumphant performance by Joan Allen. She inhabits Terry and despite the fact that she has every reason to make us loathe her character, she manages to keep her portrayal so sensitively nuanced that we stay close to her in this journey. She is simply amazing in her body language, her understanding of alcoholic behavior patterns, and her internalization of her needs at the expense of her ever-surfacing rage. Much the same can be said for Kevin Costner who gives the finest performance of his career in a role that could be pathetic and negative in the hands of a less capable actor. His comedic talents shine, but not at the expense of his enormous sensitivity to the five women with whom he ends up living.
Alexandre Desplat has once again created a movie score that has perfectly beautiful passages of music while always underlining the story appropriately. The cinematography by Richard Greatrex finds the perfect vantages that seem like windows in the hearts of each of the participants in the story. Highly Recommended.