“In the Land of Women” (Warner Brothers)
Alien Territory
Jonathan Kasdan is the director of the new film “In the Land of Women.” He is the son of Lawrence Kasdan who directed such hits as “The Big Chill” and “The Accidental Tourist.” Jonathan’s movie has a similar feel to it as his dad’s did. This movie too is about relationships but where his dad’s movies felt fully fleshed out “In the Land of Women” is only partially explored.
The film focuses on Carter Webb (Adam Brody), a screenwriter living in LA. He is involved with a model named Sofia (Elena Anaya) but at the start of the film she drops him. Broken hearted he decides to go visit his grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) who has been having bouts of depression and disorientation.
While staying with his grandmother he meets her neighbor Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan). He also meets Sarah’s two daughters, Paige (Mackenzie Vega) and Lucy (Kristin Stewart). Somehow Carter manages to get tangled up in the lives of all three of the Hardwicke women.
Supposedly Carter has something in his nature that draws women to him, with the elusive Sofia being the exception. However what that “something” is never reveals itself in the movie. Carter has Sarah and Lucy romantically attracted to him but other then being a nice guy he is not someone who would seemingly attract this kind of attention.
Nothing really happens in the movie. There is illness and death but those events occur with very little impact. Carter ends up being the same person at the end of the movie as he is at the start. Sarah and Lucy have grown up a little but not much. End of story.
The main fault of the film is the screenplay which moves form point A to point B without much impact. The second weak link is Brody. The movie says Carter is twenty-six but Brody looks and acts sixteen. Nothing is done to make him look or act older than that.
Ryan looks beautiful in the film. This is actually her best role in ages and she gives it her all. Too bad the film is not worth her effort. Stewart, Dukakis and the irrepressible Vega are all assets to the movie.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and mild violence.
“In the Land of Women" is one of those movies that screams importance and then doesn’t deliver. It seems to be saying something significant but when the movie ends you find that it all didn’t mean much. A better script and a more appropriate leading man might have saved the day.
I scored “In the Land of Women” a deserted 5 out of 10.
