Destino fatale

When I think of Susan Sarandin I think of a hip, sexy, woman with no reserves about anything. It was really interesting to see her play a character so totally opposite. In this she is a virtual recluse in a town she has never left since girlhood, a non-Christian married to a Minister! On the day she plans to take her money from the bank and run she is taken hostage by(Jake) played by actor Stephen Dorff,a very appealing guy! .

Here is Susan, dressed as a frump ,trapped and in tow, by a confused and possibly dangerous handsome guy fresh out of prison. Their interaction and eventual meshing of opposites is FUN to experience in their day by day relationship. The situations are sometimes heartfelt, or sexy, or scary!

By the end, we see Susan as we all know Susan,dressed in red boots and a mini -skirt.

All the time through the film, Stephen Dorff's inner violence ,just under his calmer surface, smolders. What is he capable of? Is he mellow? Or a tiger?

There is a surprise "almost end" (I thought it was the end,) to the film that blows your mind, and it positively shocked me.

You need to see this movie. Maybe you can find it on eBay or Half.com. I hope so. I think you will enjoy it .

I bought Earthly Possessions because they filmed some scenes in New Jersey's Ocean Grove which is doubled as Perth, South Carolina. I really liked the chemistry between Sarandon and Dorff to surprise me. It is such a surprise delight and worth a viewing. It is well written with a somewhat believable story. It has solid acting performances by Stephen Dorff and Oscar winner, Susan Sarandon. Anyway, the film begins with a hostage played by Sarandon who is an unhappy housewife trying to get away from her life and marriage. Dorff's character is desperate for some money. The leads provide an entertaining interaction between two very different characters.

This movie was a big breakthrough for HBO. I have seen some of HBO's original movies, and I have to say that with most of them I was disappointed, but this movie it was the exact opposite. Stephen Dorff made the character seem real, he really got into his role. The cast and crew did a splendid job, the atmosphere of this movie was very comfortable. Also the humor of the movie was great, at certain parts you were on the edge of your seat, wondering what happened next. Susan Sarandon did a GREAT job, and as one of her biggest fans, I have to say that this is one of her greatest films, although all of them are great!

Earthly Possessions is a great combination of drama, suspense, and comedy. Although it is an original HBO movie, I would love to see it out on video, because it is a very great movie. Everyone reading this should check the TV Guide and the next time it comes on should watch it. You won't be disappointed, I promise you that, because I sure wasn't.

There are real sparks here between Sarandon and Dorff and their performances give Earthly Possessions some real emotional weight. I've never been much impressed with Dorff in the past, but playing against Sarandon seems to lift him to a new level as an actor. His physicality serves him well in this role and Jake's hotheaded moments are both funny and slightly threatening (a hard line to walk). Sarandon builds her character so effortlessly that all of Charlotte's personality just magically appears before the viewer. Is there anything she can't do as an actress? The screenplay shows some big changes from Anne Tyler's book, but it does do a good job of capturing the novel's quirky mix of drama and comedy. Many people mention dissatisfaction with the movie's ending and I felt it too. In the novel the ending feels natural and right, but it's as if this screenplay didn't quite take into account the sexual sparks that would be generated between the two leads. Because Sarandon and Dorff have this chemistry together and do such a great job showing the characters challenging each other to be better people, the inclusion of the girlfriend and the "earthly" resolution feel like intruders in a great romantic drama. It left me wishing that instead of an adaptation of Tyler's book (which deals with taking responsibility for choices), the movie was just a continuation of Charlotte and Jake's journey together. In the movie, you just KNOW that their being together is right, even if this isn't the message in the screenplay; that difference leaves the viewer dissatisfied. In a way though, it is more satisfying that the movie doesn't have a pat ending and Charlotte and Jake's relationship is more complicated than it has to be. Movies that challenge our expectations are rare enough these days.

I thought this was quite a good movie. It stirred something in me.

I thought that Charlotte and Jake had real passion. I found myself laughing because of the ridiculousness of some of the stuff that they did.... picturing people in their situation doing the things they did.

I really liked it because it was so different and unpredictable. I was very disappointed with the ending though.