In Her Shoes Movie Review:


When I first saw the trailer for this film, I cringed. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I could feel the sugar flow off the screen and into my lap. For most guys, this is what a trailer for a “chick flick” does to us. I was no exception.

I will admit here in print that I do like some “chick-flicks” but the really good and intelligent ones. “In Her Shoes” is one of those flicks.

The film itself is more about the human condition and what it means to be family. It’s thought-inducing and structures these complex emotions around such interesting characters.

The film central focus is two sisters Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and Rose (Toni Colletter) who are both living in two different worlds.

Maggie’s life is in shambles as she prides herself on drinking, sleeping with strange men and drifting between meaningless jobs. She isn’t very well educated and it’s really tough to find her niche in society. She is lost to the void of life.

Rose is the straight-shooter whose life seems to very work oriented. Rose is a self-confessed workaholic as her fast-tracked lawyer job monopolizes a lot of her life.

Even though they never see eye-to-eye Maggie and Rose still have an unbreakable bond. Their lives collide and the sisters have an eventual falling out that could destroy that bond. When Maggie seeks out a grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) they never knew they had, the healing begins and a new lease on family emerges.

What makes this film so different from others of its kind is that it’s focused on something other than whose sleeping with whom. It’s about who these characters are and the struggles they endure.

I have to give a lot of the film’s credit to director Curtis Hanson (“Wonder Boys”) who has found a way to allow the movie to soar on character development and revelation opposed to love and relationships. I was so enchanted by the intelligence in this film. I guess I had given up on seeing it again in a genre like this which has become so littered with cliché and rudimentary characters.

I also liked that Hanson didn’t allow the film to focus on the laughs but instead the performances even if they were sometimes more dramatic and less light and fluffy.

I am not a huge supporter of Cameron Diaz but this role seems to be one she was born to play. I don’t know how much of herself is in the character but it’s so honest, forthcoming and complicated that she shocked me. I could see a second Golden Globe nod for this role.

Toni Collette is such a gifted actress but Hollywood doesn’t seem to know what to do with her a lot of the time. Thank goodness she found this project because she brings such innocence, compassion and strength to Rose that perfectly butts heads against Diaz’s Maggie.

What was else so great about this film was that senior citizens were actually portrayed like human beings. Finally the “Golden Girls” perception of seniors is starting to wean.

I also liked that the film had a mystery intertwined within the confines of family angle. It’s such a beautiful and human story.

“In Her Shoes” really surprised me and I hope it does the same for you.

So Says the Soothsayer



Dean Kish

There's a strong stream of real emotion running through this film, which manages to get the comedy-drama balance just right. Yes, you'll probably need a tissue or two, but the film earns every sniffle due to its sharply astute writing, directing and acting.

Rose (Collette) is a successful Philadelphia lawyer whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of her close but tearaway sister Maggie (Diaz), recently thrown out by their father and stepmother (Howard and Azzara). What Maggie does to Rose is even worse. Thrown out again, she heads for Florida to see her long-lost grandmother Ella (MacLaine), who turns out to be the one person who might be able to tame the wild beast. Meanwhile Rose doesn't miss Maggie, since she's busy falling for a colleague (Feuerstein). Give her time.

Hanson and Grant are wise enough to keep things understated, so the film is more warmth and wit than outright humour. Sure there's a lot of overwhelmingly emotive sister-my-sister stuff, but it's the recognisable truth that gets us laughing (and crying)--a sense of authentic interaction and self-examination that's sharply observed by cast and crew. Despite being played by top stars, these people feel almost painfully real, and we enjoy every moment we're with them.

Collette, of course, is the shining light in the cast, completely inhabiting Rose to such an extent that we learn things about her when she's doing absolutely nothing. MacLaine is wonderfully restrained, speaking volumes through subtlety for a change, using blank eyes and a wry smile to say what in previous films would have been a fit of hysteria. And Diaz is surprisingly good; the role plays to her ditzy-sexy strengths, while giving her a chance to reveal Maggie's deeply buried self-doubt.

This is a story about expectations and hopes, disappointments and self-flagellation, and mostly how difficult it is to see ourselves for who we really are. This makes it sound like existential slop, but it's actually a sparky James L Brooks-like comedy. It's also beautifully observed--perhaps a bit too long, but we can't help but fall in love with it.

Rich Cline

Even though they were sisters, all Maggie (Diaz) and Rose (Collette) have in common was their shoe size. While Rose is a prominent lawyer at a prestigious law firm but has absolutely no luck with men, Maggie just costs through life from one no hope job to another but she never had any problem attracting the opposite sex. Even though they might be completely different, they are still best friends as well as sister but this all changes when Maggie does something almost unforgivable.

Director Curtis Hanson continues to produce a varied body of work but after stories about rappers, writers and police officers can he bring the same inventiveness to a story of sibling rivalry?

What makes Curtis Hanson’s movies so watchable is that his films are always filled with strong characters. ‘In her Shoes’ is no different. Based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner, the heart of the movie are two extremely strong and well-developed female leads. The two protagonists are very different, each seeing life in very different ways but together they make a whole. Rose is the more intelligent of the two. A successful lawyer who has just started a tempestuous affair with her boss, against her better judgement, she thinks that men never really take an interest in her. Maggie is the complete opposite. Her main talent is her beauty and she has played upon that all her life. She has never had a job for more than a few months and has always struggled with basic English and maths but her looks have always got her by. They have been as thick as thieves for all of their lives together but they are slowly coming apart.

Bringing these interesting characters to life are two exceptional performances from two of Hollywood’s finest. Cameron Diaz is known more for her beauty and amazing figure than her acting skills but when a director takes a chance on her she reveals a side to her talents that only need to be woken to shine through. Watch ‘Being John Malkovich’, ‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘Vanilla Sky’ and you will she there is more to her than just good looks. As Maggie she reveals a more tender and vulnerable side to her acting as the character realises that her life might just be a complete disaster. This is another important role for Diaz as she tries to push her career further than her looks.

Toni Collette has always been a character actress worth watching and as Rose she proves this again. This is a character that gives her the chance to grow with both confidence and beauty. While Rose might think of herself as someone men just don’t notice, as her confidence grows the character really become a different person as she lets the world and love in. The role proves again that Toni Collette is an extremely talented actress and one that deserves more plaudits that she gets.

Joining the two leads is a performance from a Hollywood legend that steals every scene that she is in, the incomparable Shirley MacLaine. As Ella Hirsch, Rose and Maggie’s long lost grandmother, she brings an element of class to the proceeding as the character grows along with her younger granddaughters.

‘In her Shoes’ proves again that Curtis Hanson is one of the most diverse directors working in the business. What makes the film so memorable are the characters and the drive of the story. While it may be slightly overlong with some unnecessary side-plots such as Maggie’s difficulties with reading and maths that is never really explained, it is the believable performances and the intelligence of the screenplay. Yes this is still a ‘chick-flick’ but it is far above anything Hollywood has produced for a very long time.

(for the intended audience)

Jamie Kelwick

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