Im Land der Frauen

This film is getting a 9 based soley on the completely misleading promotion.

I went into this expecting a love story between Carter Webb (Adam Brody) and Lucy Hardwicke (Kristen Stewart). I was expecting a dramatic age-gap romance with an ending about his having to go back to Los Angeles.

What I got was a totally confusing love hexagon that ended up not being about love at all.

Carter just got dumped. So he decides to go to Michigan to live with his grandmother (who is by far the best and most interesting character) and ends up becoming really close to the women across the street.

While it was moving, touching, and all that good stuff, I left the theater with one thought in my mind. "What the hell just happened?" It was fantastic. I would highly recommend it. However, I would not recommend expecting what I did. Don't go into this hoping that the trailers and poster (which show a lovely romance between Carter and Lucy) ring true to the film. That is not at all what the story is about. It would make a great film, in my opinion, and I still wish it had taken that direction, but sadly it did not. While still fantastic, you should expect a film about real people (with many flaws and weaknesses that humans have, like the inability to to stand up for themselves) not a movie like "She's All That" where the two young, good-looking people fall in love with an epic romance.

That is not this film. Go see it. But see it to see a great study on characters, not story.

Finally, Hollywood is getting closer to emotional maturity and creativity. In the Land of Women was a delightful surprise. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys delving into the underlying thread of emotion connecting our relationships. As we meander through the sometimes messy connections between characters -- I don't remember any Hollywood sterilization of the situations. We continue, sometimes blind, just like the characters in the story -- and we get an excellent play-out of what ordinary "good" people do to strive to survive and better themselves.

We need more movies like this one -- a "chick-flick" that is more. It makes us think and it makes us feel!

refuge after break up. new universe. and different forms of love. lessons of life. and the change. the basic virtue of film is to remind the old fashion romantic comedies. and it is not a small thing. because the humor and performances and romanticism are at the right place. sure, not at the perfect place. but the war between woman and man, the evolution of emotions, the dialogues and the feel to meet, again, after a long time, familiar situations, are the good point for this film who represents the fine definition of the discover of the other.

I admit to be surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. Well cast, Meg Ryan in particular.

I enjoyed the dialog, the understated humor, and the story line. The grandmother's role left me somewhat confused, not sure I understand why it was written (or played) the way that it was. However that may be it was the device to get the main character Wisconsin, or was that Michigan? Meg Ryan finally had a role that she excel in. Just the right touch of someone who is more than they seem, and not realizing that themselves. Very interesting story between she and the main character...how they reach out and touch each other, impact each other's lives. Wish the movie had been about twenty minutes longer to better develop the characters and the interaction between them...but two hour movies just aren't the norm anymore and the 100 minutes must suffice. However, it was a 100 minutes well spent.

The Kasdan Family has made a significant mark on the better films of Hollywood and Jon Kasdan (writer/director of IN THE LAND OF WOMEN) holds those values of fine cinema intact. Having appeared as an actor in some films of his father Lawrence Kasdan (Grand Canyon, The Big Chill, Body Heat, Mumford, Dreamcatcher, The Bodyguard, etc), he has not only inherited his father's credo of making meaningful statements about life as we are currently living it, he has absorbed the fluid character development of those films and added his own sensitive touch with graceful dialog. He is a talent to watch.

Soft porn writer Carter Webb (Adam Brody in a very fine performance) lives in Los Angeles near his depressed mother (JoBeth Williams) and has just been dumped by his actress girlfriend Sofia Buñuel (Elena Anaya). When his mother learns of her mother's failing state, the distraught Carter offers to travel to suburban Michigan to stay with his grandma Phyllis (Olympia Dukakis). Once in picturesque Michigan Carter deals with his lovable but eccentric grandma and meets the across the street neighbors - mother Sarah (Meg Ryan in fine form), daughters Lucy (Kristin Stewart) and the younger Paige (Makenzie Vega), and errant husband Nelson (Clark Gregg). In this setting of a 'woman world' Carter is key to aiding the various maladies of each of the women while addressing his own disappointing failed relationship. The manner in which he intervenes by simply being present and tender and caring makes a positive impact on not only those around him but also on his own life and talent as a meaningful writer.

In what could have been a soupy chick flick Jon Kasdan has instead provided a script that has a healthy dose of homespun philosophy and has guided his multi-talented cast to offer some of their finest moments on film. This is an entertaining movie, but it is also a balm for viewers who have experienced life-threatening illness, broken homes, coping with the elderly, and ultimately coping with death. It simply works. Grady Harp