In Her Shoes (Widescreen Edition)
by Curtis Hanson
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Actor: Anson Mount, Cameron Diaz, Richard Burgi, Shirley MacLaine, Toni ColletteDirector: Curtis Hanson
Brand: Fox
Producer: Curtis Hanson
Producer: Carol Fenelon
Producer: Erin Upson
Producer: Lisa Ellzey
Producer: Mari-Jo Winkler
Writer: Jennifer Weiner
Writer: Susannah Grant
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
Published: 2006-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-31
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of In Her Shoes (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: Surprising Plot Evolution and Affecting Performances Greatly Buoy Standard-Issue Chick Flick
Summary: 4 Stars
With its predictable situations and stock characters, I am genuinely surprised that I ended up liking this 2005 movie, the epitome of a chick-flick with its veneer of Lifetime TV banalities. However, after a slow set-up, a closer look yields a frequently perceptive, often touching film that exceeds expectations on several levels. First, director Curtis Hanson, not known as a women's director given his previous works include "LA Confidential" and "8 Mile", has an idiosyncratic eye for the overriding themes of self-esteem, caretaking and inextricable sisterly bonds. Adapted from a popular chick-lit novel by Jennifer Weiner, the story focuses on two sisters, a study in physical and behavioral contrasts - Rose, a workaholic Philadelphia attorney who falls into the trap of an office affair with her slick boss, and Maggie, a seductive, dyslexic and ethically marginal party girl who cannot keep a steady job or a place to live.
Their can't-live-with-her, can't-live-without-her relationship has an authentic feel, even if at the beginning, their increasing polarization smacks of stereotype. They have an explosive blow-out at which point the movie tracks their evolving lives on parallel paths. This is where the film's strongest section begins, as Hanson and screenwriter Susannah Grant do a nice job of showing how Rose and Maggie have similarities beyond their mutual fondness for designer shoes. Rose hesitantly starts a relationship with a former colleague unconditionally smitten with her, while Maggie journeys to Florida to meet and live with Ella, the grandmother neither sister knew even existed, at a senior citizen community. Fulfilling the film's coy title, Rose and Maggie eventually merge paths toward an inevitable conclusion by ending up in each other's shoes. The emotional pay-off gratefully resonates as Rose becomes more free-spirited and outgoing, Maggie becomes more introspective and respectful, and both like themselves much more for the change.
Hanson sometimes veers too far into soap opera but ultimately taps into the emotional honesty of the characters by eliciting three superbly rendered performances. As she has proven in films as diverse as "Dinner With Friends", "The Hours" and "Japanese Story", Toni Collette manages to get to the core of her characters with minimum fuss, and her Rose is an intelligently observed, warts-and-all performance. Tearfully pushing Maggie out of her life, she viscerally handles the plot's turning point like a wounded hyena. Collette also provides the film's funniest scene when responding to a humiliating slideshow, she wields a kitchen knife in front of her venomous stepmother Sydelle (played to the hilt by Candice Azzara). As Maggie, Cameron Diaz does unexpectedly strong work here as she demonstrates how far more resourceful she is than her fun-loving personality would indicate. Unafraid to lose viewer sympathy, she paints a rich portrait of a self-deluded young woman who gradually discovers that her self-worth extends beyond her obvious beauty.
In an even more dramatic change-of-pace, Shirley MacLaine does not play Ella with the predictable bluster which mark her performances since "Terms of Endearment" but rather in restrained shadings that represent some of her most subtle work. It's a commendable turn by an actress entering the sixth decade of her illustrious film career. Not too surprisingly, the male actors are completely overshadowed, but given that, there is nice work from Mark Feuerstein as Rose's supportive boyfriend Simon, Norman Lloyd as the kindly blind professor who makes Maggie realize her inner strength, and Ken Howard as the sisters' resentful father. Brooke Smith plays Rose's cynical friend in a manner almost identical to the character she plays in Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda", and Francine Beers is on Estelle Getty autopilot as opinionated Mrs. Lefkowitz.
The DVD includes three surprisingly good featurettes. The obligatory making-of short, "The People in Their Shoes", actually provides insightful comments by Hanson, Grant, co-producer Carol Fenelon and the principal cast on what motivates the characters and why the story evolves the way it does. The funniest piece is "A Retirement Community for Acting Seniors", which comically profiles the non-professionals who took part in the senior center scenes of the movie, while "From Death Row to the Red Carpet: The Casting of Honey Bun" provides a sincere look at how shelter animals are used in films, such as the puppy that plays Maggie's dog, Honey Bun 2. Surprisingly, there is no alternative audio commentary by Hanson or the cast.
Description of In Her Shoes (Widescreen Edition)
Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine "all deserve Oscars®"(WCBC-TV) for their hilarious and moving performances in "the most rewarding family comedy since Terms of Endearment." (New York Magazine) Flirty, flaky party girl Maggie (Diaz) and plain, dependable lawyer Rose (Collette) are sisters, best friends and bitter rivals who seem to have only two things in common: DNA and size 8 1/2 feet. Only when their love-hate relationship veers towards the hate end of the spectrum do they accidentally discover they also share a long-lost grandmother (MacLaine) who enriches their lives and helps them make peace with each other?and themselves!In Her Shoes just gets better and better as it goes along. As adapted by Erin Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, this is one of those rare movies that actually improves on its source material (Jennifer Weiner's "chick lit" bestseller), with thoughtful direction by Curtis Hanson, the L.A. Confidential Oscar®-winner who approaches any chosen genre with Hawksian versatility. At first it seems like Weiner's novel might yield a standard melodrama of sibling rivalry, but the polar opposition of smart, plain-looking Philadelphia lawyer Rose (the always-excellent Toni Collette) and her sexy, illiterate, irresponsible sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is just the starting point. In Her Shoes becomes a moving, richly developed character study that deals with painful loss, long-term guilt, negative self-image, and the discovery of a heretofore unknown grandmother named Ella (played with delicate nuance by Shirley MacLaine), whose re-entry into the sisters' lives sets the stage for the well-earned emotions of a satisfying reconciliation. As Maggie takes stock of her dismal life while staying with Ella at a Florida "retirement home for active seniors," Hanson never condescends to these likable characters, and never goes for the easy laughs in a setting that could have devolved into Cocoon-like comedy. The movie's all the more endearing for treating its male characters (played by Mark Feuerstein, Ken Howard, and Richard Burgi) with equal depth and sympathy, further enhancing a classy tearjerker that viewers of both genders can thoroughly enjoy. --Jeff Shannon
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