Le destin d'Audrey

When the opening shot is of two women in mourning black blowing away a gopher with an expletive, I knew this would be more than an interesting movie. Definitely not the usual Hallmark fare. As stated in other comments, there are too many stories that don't get resolved, or at least that don't tie in well. For most of the movie I thought Carol Kane was Audrey's other sister, simply because she resembled Jean Smart's character and was a bit wacky like the other sisters. Then there is the problem of Terry, the long lost love who suddenly returns and the kids immediately take to him and call him Uncle. It all starts to bump together too rapidly with all the loose ends trying to tie up neatly, and unfortunately the ending comes way too fast and tries too hard to bring in the happy ending. A mini-series could have done this plot justice. Lots of possibilities, but there was just way too much to cover in the alloted time.

There is material here for a good film, too much indeed for the 86 minutes of TV or cable time allotted. As it unfolds it mostly seems either silly or incomprehensible. Maybe about 3 hours with good editing could have told the tale of Audrey's problems. That an old boy friend from the past is the answer to solving those problems is just part of the general silliness, as the film exists. Jean Smart delivers her usual competent performance as Audrey, aided by the rest of the cast, but they can't overcome that deadly destructive editing. This is a common and frustrating continuing problem with movies made for TV or cable. It is a pleasure to see such fine performers as Jean Smart, but one could surely wish the conditions were better.

I'm not sure what movie the producers/director were trying to make. No foundation was built to tell the story.

Tunneling exposition is a valid literary tool, but it was not well-used here. It merely created a situation where there was little to no character development.

Was this a story where a woman had to give up a love to care for her mentally retarded sister? A story where a sister had to give up her life to care for her suicidal sister's kids? Was this a story of lost love? Was this a story of guilt for a sister's suicide? Unfortunately, it was all of the above...with unhappy kids and a dysfunctional friend poorly played by the badly cast and underused Carol Kane thrown in for good measure.

Even worse, somehow this old boyfriend of 20 years ago is supposed to be the savior of them all. Only to the emotionally stunted, which Audrey is, I suppose.

The acting is okay. The production values are OK. The camera work is OK. The story is stupid and sadly wasteful.

4 out of 10.