Reviews

This journey takes many forms including the turbulent automobile ride across the continent of a parent and child who meet each other for the first time, of a family who experiences loss and reconciliation, and of the journey toward the development of new identity. Felicity Huffman and Kevin Zegers render particular stunning and award-winning performances. As a resident of the so-called Middle America, my concern is that the film will not find broad acceptance among the film viewing public due to their conservative and squeamish attitudes toward gender differences. It will not likely gain acceptance in some communities for the simple reason that it may offend religiously conservative viewers who are unlikely to condone the making of this film, yet alone view it. What particularly troubles me is that a religiously devoted "Christian" may likely reject the central character's decision to change gender, while at the same time lose sight of their Savior's central message concerning love, compassion, and forgiveness. That said the special acting talent of Felicity Huffman serves to stretch a viewer's film viewing experience, not only maintaining an entertainment interest but also challenging beliefs and perceptions about those who are different from them. I applaud the effort to produce a film of this quality. More films that require viewers to think about their content should be on the drawing boards of film studios. A final note of thanks is in order to those who contributed to the musical background that tied the film's themes together so well. Please Hollywood, make more films like this which challenge as well as entertain.

This film is a tribute to the acting talents of Hoffman, Keener, Cooper and others. It provides an excellent contextual understanding of Capote's complexity and his efforts that culminated in the publishing of a biographical novel. It showcases his keen ability to use others so effectively in his writing efforts. Particularly noteworthy was his ability to empathize, to engage, and to manipulate others to collaborate with him in his artistic effort to create his novel. He also exhibited an amazing memory for detail. Nothing seemed to detract him from his goal of achieving the supreme work of fiction. Capote was relentless in his pursuit to graphically record a terrible murder. I was further drawn to Capote's struggle to accommodate his role as a bystander with prisoner's role as a perpetrator. Capote had an uncanny ability to identify with that criminal's mindset. He used this to his advantage in gathering material for the novel. All of his energies were directed to keeping his subject alive so he could write his book. Capote manipulated the truth with the prisoner whom he befriended in order to obtain cooperation and to produce the final version his story. Was this coverage of a biographical event the source of his ultimate undoing in succumbing to alcoholism? The viewer is left wondering. This is an engaging as well as challenging film.

The plot of this film is not particularly believable. The character is so distant and remote that it hard to believe that the women in his past had reason to be attracted to him in the first place. Essentially Murray is encouraged by a congenial neighbor to find out who might be the writer of a letter telling of a son he fathered nineteen years ago. Murray takes off to visit each of the women who might be the possible author of the letter. He looks for clues that link the letter writer to the person he visits. Each woman he visits is distinctly different than the others. Only once did I detect a sign that one could be the letter writer--the one who claims that he has an ulterior motive for coming. I've seen better Murray films. This one bordered on boring.

This is definitely not a film for children which the title does not clearly reveal. Parents might be well advised to know that it is an adult film with gutter language and binge drinking that never ceases. It's really too bad that film makers seem to think that this is holiday entertainment.

The plotline of this movie requires a bit of a stretch in one's imagination with respect to the change in the heroine's pattern of gold-digging behavior. But with these beautiful characters it doesn't seem to matter. It was an entertaining comedy.

Enjoyed this film. The acting was of uniformly high quality, and it moved at a fast pace, yet was easy to follow. I somehow anticipated the ending but couldn't quite move beyond guessing until the later part of the film. Would highly recommend this movie.

The plot is thinly developed and the humor just doesn't quite reach the expected level. One keeps waiting for that "funny moment" that just doesn't quite happen. At the end one is left with the question, "what is the point of all this?" One member of our viewing group fell asleep, another attempted to remain engaged, and others left the room.

Holds one's interest, but is too convoluted and implausible. Plot revolves around the issue of death penalty for murderers, the setting being Texas. It was difficult to imagine the Kevin Spacy character as a professor in that locale and the Winslet character as a renowned reporter there to write about his situation. Definitely holds one's attention up to the end.