Woman Wanted

Shirley Douglas, the actress playing "Peg" is actor/director Keifer Sutherland's mother! I discovered this doing a cross check. Douglas played on "The Hat Squad" a series that didn't last a whole season. But when viewing a bio on her it revealed that she was Keifer's mother so I checked to see if there were any matches and to this movie I came!

"Woman Wanted" tells of a domestic (Hunter) who is accepted for employment in a household consisting of a father (Moriarty) and son (Sutherland) who have deep, long held issues. With her infectious smile and delicately assertive presence, Hunter increases the wattage in the household lights and the men's hearts. Critically slammed, this character study film will likely find its narrow audience among those who can identify with the principles..the brittle, temperamental poet and the professorial elder intellectual. Hunter is always good but, IMHO, Moriarty stole this show.

I have to admit I checked out this movie solely because it was filmed locally and was curious how it turned out - what a pleasant surprise! I would describe this quiet, somewhat slow moving film as a bittersweet, and moving testament to the bonds of family. It is also eerily reminiscent of Redford's "Ordinary People" starring Keifer's dad, Donald Sutherland. The performances were A+. The interplay between father and son were especially moving and I couldn't help thinking( hypothetically of course)of Keifer's own personal issues with his own estranged father(especially since Keifer also directed this, as well as starred in it). Ideally this movie would of, I believe, have had a bigger audience as a movie of the week or say a Hallmark presentation. Too bad, as "Woman Wanted" is a likable film deserving of more recognition, or even possibly an Emmy nomination if it was. But be warned, this movie is quite slow...just stick with it, it'll be worth it.

I was pretty surprised to find this in the video store as it seemed like it might be an obscure film. I read Kiefer Sutherland has since removed his name from the director credits, replaced by infamous Alan Smithee, and after watching this, I can see why. "Woman Wanted" is full of promise but suffers from poor emotional pacing, and poor editing. It takes a moment to sometimes realize the scene you are watching takes place some time after the previous scene, giving no indication to the amount of time passage as the characters grow to know each other. As a result, emotional developments seem awkward and at times, unmotivated, or just plain unbelievable. Holly Hunter just seemed flat the whole film through, and Kiefer Sutherland, seemly to have miscast himself, plays Wendell like he is six years old. What is with the Christopher Robin look? I think if more screen time had been allowed to show the emotional attachments develop, and better editing cues to herald the passage of time, the emotions the actors portrayed would have seemed more believable. I would love to see Kiefer to continue honing his directorial skills, but he still has some learning to do...consider this effort one of his film school kindergarten projects.

I saw the video first as a rental and loved it. Then I bought the DVD and was disappointed that 1)Kiefer Sutherland's name was removed as the director, and replaced with Alan Smithee and his version of the film, and 2)There were a number of important scenes that the DVD version deleted. Do yourself a favor and rent the video. The video makes sense whereas, the DVD version seems to skip about and leaves out key scenes which are essential for understanding and enjoying this wonderful movie.