An average movie

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out. Eventually, even though Roger Ebert was really enthusiast, even though I myself enjoyed many things about this flick, I still ended up with some mixed feelings. Indeed, it deals with 3 stories, all about women whose lives have been influenced by the adoption process. The first issue is that two of those stories were clearly linked whereas the last one (dealing with Kerry Washington) didn’t have anything to do with the rest until the very end when they finally linked everything together. As a result, the whole thing felt really contrived and I wish they kept it more anchored in reality like the rest of the movie. Furthermore, I thought that Karen (very well portrayed by Annette Bening) changed too much between the beginning and the end. I mean, she started out as a really messed up woman and it was quite understandable considering what she went through but, at the end of the movie, she became someone completely different. I think it would have worked better if she changed just a little bit, that she had learned to accept her past and find some peace but still remained messed up because, after all, that’s who she is. Still, it remains a solid drama above all thanks to the decent directing and a very good cast (Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, David Morse, Amy Brenneman). I was especially really impressed by Annette Bening and Naomi Watts who both did a great job but the rest of the cast was really good as well. To conclude, even though I thought that the story was too convoluted, it still is a very well made drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

6/10