Nevada

Kirstie Alley and Kathy Najimy made this movie during a "Veronica's Closet" hiatus - too bad they didn't have anything better to do during their summer vacation! This movie meanders endlessly but barely goes anywhere. I rented this movie because of the cast, who also included Amy Brenneman and Dee Stone. All the actresses in this movie did the best with the material they were handed: it's a puzzlement as to why they elected to go forward with this boring and depressing project to begin with. If you are looking for a great feminist film, this ain't it!

The movie is half over before you have the slightest idea what is going on or why. By the end of the movie, you may have an idea, but don't count on it being the same idea that the "writer/director" had. I thought that any movie with a cast this interesting would be at least tolerable. I was wrong (sigh). If you go to the video store and are tempted, save your money... if someone gives you the movie to watch, save your time! A sad waste of a decent cast and the better part of two hours.

I was shocked to see that Kirstie Ally put her own money behind this awful flick. She really just "phoned in her performance." Kind of looked like a female caricature of Marlin Brando on SNL!

The best part is that the story is based in Silver City, Nevada, which is 11 miles from Carson City, Nevada, and some of the residents work at the Boulder Dam, which is roughly 460 miles from Carson City. So they drive at least 8.5 hours each way to work. The entire movie is based on some lesbian fantasy that a bunch of sweaty, dusty, hot babes are sitting around in rustic shacks in perfectly torn sun dresses flirting with each other while their men work at the dam. Think beer commercial with cost plus sets/props. I know it's just a movie but c'mon...working at the dam? They could have worked at any of the local mines if they wanted the dirty, sweaty boy look.

It's mighty hard to find movies that aren't about White males. But it's even harder to find a movie that's about women than one that's about brown folks. This is a quirky, tough, tender movie about women-- their lives and confusions. An earlier commenter felt that Kirstie Alley's performance was inadequate, but my husband and I were surprised how good and understated she was. It's always great to see Kathy Najimy, and Amy Brenneman was excellent.

A beautifully written movie about folks.