Let set the record straight. It's not that this movie sucks, because it does not. It's just disappointing because it could have been really good. In fact, the first half hour IS good. Giving that the storyline it's kind of a cliché- guy in his twenties gets dump for beautiful girl, and heartbroken decides to travel only to find the truth about himself- they managed to tell it interestingly enough. That is, it went really well mainly thanks to Adam Brody, an actor who plays the same character once and again -gilmore girls, OC, Mr and Ms Smith- but always adding some tiny specifics to the persona as to make it look refreshing. It's also a merit to his record being able to play a sad face when he's hearing Elena Anaya speak in English. The first 5 minutes of him against Olimpia Dukakis are arguably the best moment of the flick. This fantastic Oscar winner plays and elderly and kind of crazy grandma, obsessed, against medical opinion, with the imminence of her death. She is fantastic in this role, and deserved a new nomination -only a Utopia if you see the numbers this movie made worldwide-. The movie keeps in a good track until he meets the neighbors. And then's when the movie starts to fall. First, because of Meg Ryan. His new "Joker-like" face makes her unable to express any kind of feeling other than surprise. And taking into account that she is a cancer patient with a husband who cheats on her and a daughter who hates her, she kind of needs to show some sadness. To bad for her, she could have been a beautiful aging woman, but she preferred to be a clown. From the moments he meets the family across the street ,the movie tries to tell us that he is discovering he was not doing things right with his life but cannot either scape to solve the problems, and that nobody's life is simple. But it fails, not only because meg Ryan fails, but also because some of the problems told are so trivial- mother daughter fight, for example- that you don't really get the metaphor. In fact, you end up thinking, wow,this people would's survive my third world country kind of problems. Anyway, Adam Brody made me laugh, he plays a lovable character, and his relationship with grandma is worth watching, sadly, there's to much of stupid teenage problems and to little of that story. I wouldn't recommend it, but neither would repulse it.
Review of In the Land of Women
