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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS consist of good news and bad news:
GOOD: Gabrielle's job of playing a mentally disturbed battered wife is impressive, and seeing the way her character handles an annoying pet bird is worth the price of the rental alone. The movie scores with both of its attempts at comedic moments (where Robert and Ray are talking to each other from their cars, when Adele swears like a sailor upon learning who Robert's new squeeze is). The scene with Joyce and the bird seems meant more to show the extent of Joyce's problems than as an attempt at comedy, but it turned out to be as funny as anything else in the movie. Also, the movie does a good job of having June, Joyce, Ray and Adele melt down simultaneously, which was a necessary kickstart for a plot that goes as slowly as this one.
BAD: Even the most sensitive person in the world would have a problem caring one iota about anyone in the house, even Joyce. Robert seems like an okay guy with whom who you can sympathize - until he cheats on June. Joyce is extremely disturbed, and her ways of dealing with her pain range from very amusing (the bird scene) to simply annoying (mowing down a flowerbed, for instance). June is annoying overall and sings way too often in the movie (if the thought of listening to Shepherd as a lounge singer turns you off, you're going to have a really tough time slogging your way through this). She's not a bad singer by any means, but it won't be long before you throw up your hands and yell "All right, she can sing, we get the point." The movie probably would have been more appealing to the masses if June had been an accountant.
Ray, the alcoholic brother, is such an intolerable jerk that at one point when he's about to kill himself, you'll probably to be rooting for him to do it. The worst part of the movie, though, is that the film is told from the point of view of Adele, who is such a thoroughly dislikable little bag of snot that even when she suffers a severe cut from broken glass or gets rejected by her own father, it's next to impossible to feel sorry for her. When one of the two most likeable characters in a movie is a cheater, and the other is a murderer of a housepet, the movie has a problem.
NITPICK: The actor who plays Eric (Joyce's abusive husband) has a non-speaking role in the movie, is never seen close up, and yet actually has a stunt double. From this I can only conclude that stunt doubles get paid a whole lot more than unknown actors do, because there's absolutely nothing about this role (which consisted of nothing more than sitting in a car across the street from a house) that the stunt double couldn't have handled himself.
APPEARING HERE AND ELSEWHERE WITH GABRIELLE: Alexandra Purvis, who plays Adele, played Kat Corrigan in "Poltergeist: The Legacy" and Amy Pickman in "The Disappearance of Vonnie." Cybill Shepherd, who plays June Nordstrom, also played Nell Dugan in "Due East." Dylan Pearson, who plays Tim, played Korey Glover in "Video Voyeur: The Susan Wilson Story." Michael Hogan, who plays Humphrey, played Flagg in the movie "Dead Man's Gun" (in the "My Brother's Keeper" segment). Suki Kaiser, who plays Doris, played Darlene Waters in "The Advocate's Devil."
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