Film Reviews

Lovely and Amazing

• Rating:
• Director: Nicole Holofoener
• Starring: Brenda Blethyn
• Details: US / 91 mins / (No Cert@ IFC)

A few years after her outstanding turn in Being John Malkovich, Catherine Keener re-demonstrates her exceptional talent in Nicole Holofoener's superb dramatic comedy, Lovely and Amazing. The central characters in the film are the Marks, an affluent but highly strung family. Jane (Brenda Blethyn) is an independently wealthy woman with two grown up daughters, Michelle (Kenner) and Elizabeth (Mortimer), and an adopted black daughter, Annie (Goodwin). Early on, Jane decides to get liposuction, but complications develop, and it's up to Michelle and Elizabeth to look after Annie. But neither of the two women are what you could call 'grounded' and they've got more than a few problems of their own.
Blessed with an extremely witty script, and a slew of exquisitely judged performances, Lovely and Amazing is a treat of a motion picture. Holofoener explores the neurosis of her subjects, masking it around a screwball comedy, which elicits wonderful humour as well as being insightful. Excellent stuff.

Review by Garreth Murphy