(Credit: www.DVDTown.com)
Director:
Curtis Hanson
Cast:
Cameron Diaz……….Maggie Feller
Toni Collette……….Rose Feller
Shirley MacLaine……….Ella
Francine Beers……….Mrs. Lefkowitz
Richard Burgi……….Jim Danvers
Ken Howard……….Michael Feller
Mark Feuerstein……….Simon Stein
Candice Azzara……….Sydelle
Norman Lloyd……….Professor
Fox 2000 Pictures presents In Her Shoes. Written by Susannah Grant. Based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner. Running time: 130 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for thematic material language and some sexual content).
The movie:
What necessitates a “chick flick”? Does the storyline have to be about a bad breakup? Do women have to clutch their box of Kleenex just in case something sad happens? How about Terms of Endearment, is it a chick flick even though it has that “joker” Jack Nicholson? Rhetorical questions they are, but it proves that films intended for females are films men can watch, um, sometimes. Much like In Her Shoes from director Curtis Hanson.
For a man whose last movie centered on rap and the Motor City, his follow-up is a complete reversal. Hanson focuses his attention on the relationship of two sisters, Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and Rose (Toni Collette). One is a lawyer who busies herself hours on end at work; the other is broke, and is always scrounging for cash. Rose is her sister’s keeper and has been ever since they were kids. She’s older than Maggie, so she looks out for her even when her sister does something much maligned – like passing out in a bathroom during her 10-year high school reunion.
By and large, Maggie is a freeloader to her older sibling. Rose gives her an inch of space in her one-bedroom apartment and Maggie takes a mile. She wears her sister’s clothes without asking, and makes a mess when she spills Haagen-Dazs on the shoes. And if that weren’t enough, Rose walks into her bedroom to see Maggie sleeping with her boyfriend. That was the last straw; Maggie has definitely worn out her welcome. Rose tried to help Maggie with her resume to find gainful employment, but little sis would rather watch fashion shows on the TV. If only Maggie had the gumption to realize that not everybody has a lifestyle filled with champagne wishes and caviar dreams. If she did, Rose wouldn’t have had to kick her out.
The first thirty minutes of In Her Shoes tries to illustrate this conflict between the two sisters, while accentuating each other’s pitfalls. The differences are extraordinarily obvious, like Maggie’s free spirit disposition compared to her sister’s loneliness. But, there are also instances where the workaholic Rose could have bettered herself by her sister’s bad habits.
When Maggie is evicted it changes the film’s attitude. Instead of giving us a tale that was sure to turn syrupy, Curtis Hanson splits up his film into two different stories; Rose in her post breakup phase and Maggie’s new start.
Cameron Diaz is not little red riding hood, but without her sister to splurge off of she takes a train to sunny Miami to visit her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine). Ella is her name and she is a grandmother that Maggie never knew existed. That is, until one day she visited her father’s home and found some birthday cards hidden away in the den. Guess it pays to look for cash when the parents are away, you never know what you’ll come across.
Ella is at first bewildered to see her youngest granddaughter at her front door. But wonder turns to excitement, as she is just so pleased to see Maggie. While grandma and granddaughter are striking up a rapport, Rose is trying to rediscover herself. She quits her job at the law firm and takes a job as a dog walker. This is just a minor diversion so that she doesn’t have to see her boss (who was also her boyfriend) on a daily basis. Where one door closes another opens.
Rose never saw herself as a beautiful woman. Never had many boyfriends. When life was too much for her and she felt depressed, she didn’t gorge herself with fatty foods or drown her tears with alcohol. Rose bought shoes. Why? Shoes don’t call you names like “Fat Pig!” or ignore you. The best thing about shoes is they always fit. Even through wear and tear, a pair always fits the contours of your feet. There’s a metaphor in that statement that’s typical of the relationship the two sisters have.
All relationships have their “wears and tears,” but despite hatred, a love still resides.
Over the last decade Curtis Hanson has given viewers a chance to see gossip reporting and hardnosed cops (L.A. Confidential) an English professor who’s stuck in a rut (Wonder Boys), and Eminem rapping about how to “lose yourself”. His latest book-to-screen adaptation is comparable to those works, since there is a progression about people and relationships. Confidential had a story about a hooker and a cop. Wonder Boys was about professor Grady Tripp and his kooky friends. 8 Mile explored Eminem’s relationship to music and his deadbeat mother. Shoes is about two siblings, both strange in their own way, and a grandmother, and how they come to love one another through trials and separation.
Score: 7.5/10
The DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen)
It’s amazing what a change in landscape can do for a motion picture. The opening bit with Maggie and Rose is dark and brooding. With the sisters monochromatic in nature, the lighting helps to offset their detachment from each other. All the while, Ella’s retirement community for active seniors is full of life and color. That’s due in large part to the production supervisor Dan Davis and the director of photography Terry Stacey. Ella’s living abode has walls the color of white and sky blue, among others. Attention to detail is also shown to the clothing attire of Rose – with her earth tones – and Maggie – with her black lingerie and her Fredrick’s of Hollywood knockoffs.
Score: 8/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
(English 5.1 Dolby Surround, French Surround, and Spanish Surround Sound)
In Her Shoes is a contemporary story about relationships, so expect mostly dialogue, with some hip tunes thrown in. Mark Isham’s musical score, much like Curtis Hanson’s direction, is significant in showing the tumultuous relations depicted. Also, whoever decided to start the film with Garbage’s “Stupid Girl” as Maggie is living the high life at her reunion, chose wisely. I couldn’t think of a better song to better describe Maggie’s character.
Score: 7.5/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Three Featurettes!!
Curtis Hanson is not known for loading the DVD releases of his movies with tons of extras, but what he does include tends to be substantial in the long run. For the release of In Her Shoes, the people at 20th Century Fox have included three featurettes; each one is A Deuce Three Production.
“The people in the shoes” is a 16-minute feature where Curtis Hanson and some of the cast and crew talk about adapting Jennifer Weiner’s novel to the silver screen. To Hanson, all of his films have been about people. Maybe not always the most truthful or loving, but people all the same. He admits he was thrilled to do a contemporary story in which viewers, mainly females, could relate to the subject matter. This is definitely a feature you want to watch after seeing the film. Hanson goes into detail about the importance of certain pieces of artwork presented in the background. And he also talks about the way he shot particular scenes, like Maggie’s past and the diner scene with the two sisters. It’s not a bad mini lesson for aspiring filmmakers.
Being an extra can be a wonderful experience. It can also be a tedious day of shooting. Just ask David Duchovny (Fox Mulder of “X-Files” fame). He appeared on screen for only a few seconds in Working Girl. But he was an aspiring actor, unlike the extras shown in “A retirement community for acting seniors”. Running at 11 minutes, the featurette has many of the residents of the retirement home giving their two cents on how they performed in the film. One elderly man compared being an extra to that of being in the service. “Hurry and wait.” This isn’t really a featurette that will appeal to many, but it is interesting to hear what it is like to be 87-years-old and acting in your first movie.
Well, if you thought the life of an extra was challenging, how about the life of an acting dog? “From death row to the red carpet: the casting of Honey Bun” is a short piece on Hamlet (formerly Hambone) the dog. In the novel and screenplay, Honey Bun was a pug. Hanson, in his brilliant wisdom, wanted to go with a mutt, so that people who saw the movie would walk away and want to buy a helpless dog from a pound -because a dog from the pound is just as good and desirable than any other. The funniest moment is learning that the most specifically described task for Hamlet to do on camera was pee in the snow. Such a trooper, he was able to do it in only one take.
Besides these three featurettes, the DVD also has a separate extra called Inside Look. The inside look isn’t anything special. It’s just a look at the latest story in the Lindsay Lohan saga called Just My Luck. Um, no thank you.
Score: 4.5/10
