rachdeveraux

If you are among the IMDB audience that put High Fidelity in the all-time top 200, then this movie probably is NOT for you. This film is as unhip as Steve Frears is self-consciously hip. Renee Zellweger is excellent as a hip urbane magazine writer who returns to her suburban Bucks County nest in order to care for mother Streep (who delivers yet another hall-of-fame performance). William Hurt is ideally cast and the feckless, faithless, and egotistical husband. If this movie doesn't move you to cry and laugh, then you are much too hip to enjoy it.

I loved this movie even more than I loved the book, and I loved the book. The acting throughout is magnificent. What a true ensemble cast in the best of Asian traditions! One thing the movie added a dimension to is the visual nature of the food itself and what is important. When Waverly takes the best crab for herself, I cried and laughed so much at the same time I nearly lost it.

This may be the worst-directed movie to ever win the Best Director award. It meanders positively all over the place. Excessive violence is everywhere, and every character seems to share Clint's own brooding and laconic nature. The world may be a hard place but this movie is just that much harder to watch. Far from being a seminal western, this mishmash makes Heaven's Gate seem like a classic.