L'uomo dei miei sogni

The "troubled teen gets tough love" genre is a well-loved genre, ever since The Blackboard Jungle in 1955. I watch a lot of these movies, and Carolina is a pretty good one.

The troubled teen in this one is actually an adult, but it's still the same type of movie. Julia Stiles, whose "too cool for school" attitude is perfectly plastered on her perpetually sourpuss face, is mad at her family because they're eccentric and she's trying to mature into a mainstream young woman. Her name is Carolina because everyone in her family is named after the state in which they were born, and she despises her name just as much as her eccentric relatives.

If you've seen a lot of these movies, like I have, you pretty much know the formula. Carolina doesn't stray too far from the typical mold, but if you're in the mood for a little cheese in your movies and relatives who are too wacky to be realistic, give this one a whirl.

Poor Shirley MacLaine. I have seen her in other movies (just today "Guarding Tess) so I know she can be good, but judging by her acting in this film one would think she is a bad actress. Here she plays another in a long line of eccentric characters. The problem is she is no longer in her 20s and can be cute and kooky as in "The Apartment", "What a Way to Go!", and "Sweet Charity".

Judging from the entire movie, the movie script fails her as the script is terrible. However Ms. MacLaine has been in the movie business since 1955 and has appeared in a number of excellent movies so she at least could have made her role good in this bad movie. Nope. Not in this movie. Take for instance the scene where she talks to the screen in the movie theater and then harangues the young usher who comes to ask her to be quiet. Dreadful performance in a dreadful scene. It is also an unnecessary scene as we already know MacLaine's character is embarrassing to her granddaughters.

Julia Stiles again plays a young uptight woman who needs to learn to loosen up. Ms. Stiles has acted since 1994, many years prior to this 2003 movie. She has experience playing this role before, i.e. in "10 Things I Hate About You" from 1999. Stiles also could have brought something interesting to her role here. She didn't.

The characters in this movie were all eccentric characters who were one dimensional and annoying, and not real at all.

Stiles played an uptight woman who never had more than three dates with one person. Her best friend is man (she has no women friends) who lives near her apartment. He writes romance novels under a fake name, has a crush on her, and she has no idea. Duh. As the best male friend in movies is often stereotypically a gay man, I initially thought he was gay. When he hired the gay housecleaning duo to clean her apartment, I was sure he was gay. Speaking of the gay house cleaners, talk about an offensive stereotype.

Anyway, her best friend is not gay, and although he claims to understand her well and can predict she will act a certain way - and tells her so, when she does act the way he knew she would, he gets upset. Huh? All a plot device to have "boy lose girl".

I don't think Stiles, MacLaine, or most any of the actors, cared for this movie. They must have been in it either because of an obligation or they needed the money.

Watching this movie is a waste of time, and I bet the actors wish they hadn't wasted their time making this movie.

Carolina is a warm and tender movie that will make you chuckle and at times laugh out loud. The Performances by Julia Stiles and Shirley MacLaine are wonderful as is their chemistry together. Unfortunately I was only able to see this on DVD and not the big screen where I would have enjoyed it so much.

How do I know this was an entertaining movie well worth recommending to others, because when it was over I had laughed, shed a tear and it left me with a smile on my face. See this if you can.

This picture is billed as a romantic comedy but it's really more about family and how that can affect romances. While this is definitely a fluff piece, Shirley MacLaine's character and acting knock it out of the ballpark.

Julia Stiles, by contrast, is wooden and unsympathetic in her role as the female romantic lead. I kept wanting to see her in some 1970's BBC drama where emotionless, physically dull acting was more the rage.

Azura Skye does a nice turn in the predictable role of "the trashy sister" who gets pregnant after a one-night stand. Randy Quaid and the rest of the cast practically disappear except to act as foils to MacLaine's outrageous "tough love/live life my own way" Grandma.

This is not great art or even great romantic comedy. You won't need to see it more than once. Watch it for MacLaine's performance and be ready to fluff your way through the rest!

I had never heard of this movie but rented it because I thought the description sounded interesting. My husband and I loved it so much that we ended up watching it three times before returning the movie. I haven't usually been a fan of Julia Stiles' but I did very much enjoy her acting in this movie and I also thought Shirley McLean and Jennifer Coolidge were great. Whoever was in charge of casting really knew how to do their job well. I have decided to buy the DVD if I can find it. I do have a question that I hope someone might be able to answer. In the movie, there is a little dog with cute black ears that belongs to Shirley McLean's character. Does anyone know what breed this dog is? I would really appreciate knowing what kind of dog this is as we would love to buy one just like it.