TECHNICAL QUALITY: DVD
Well-written movie undercut by weak and inconsistent performances and somewhat perfunctory plotting. The melodrama does not grab ones emotional attention as much as it should despite a fine performance from Jessica LANGE and a believable sibling chemistry between herself and Michelle PFEIFFER. (Jason ROBARDS is also excellent as the manipulative family patriarch.)
As a study of female toughness, we are not given enough information to elucidate just what it is that they have survived from their childhoods that could have created that resilience to develop in the first place. The attempt to eschew melodramatic cliché leaves us with little dramatic meat on the bone since the former are not replaced with anything dramatically-fresh – despite the sincerity of the actors.
The similarities to King Lear are obvious and played for what they are – a good idea that can work well in a different context. However, this movie should have been at least twenty minutes longer so that we witness the characters change over time in a more convincing – and less instant-gratification - manner than shown here.
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