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DVD (1)
Bujold has the frazzled hauteur of an aging, neglected star, and Spelling is nicely glazed, studiously artless. But the film is keyed to Posey's performance: perfectly brittle, faultlessly false.
[Waters] manages to open up the text while maintaining its perilous mix of arch wit, pathos and suspense.
This is a definitive Posey performance: wide-eyed, smiling and ultrafeminine, but plastic and cold as a store mannequin.
There are many gaping holes between the funny moments.
Not every chance taken by Mark Waters works, but enough are successful to produce some memorable motion picture moments.
When the film was over I was not particularly pleased that I had seen it; it was mostly behavior and contrivance. While it was running, I was not bored.
Bujold is as good as ever, but the real surprise here is Spelling: Slack-jawed and dewy-eyed, lids forever at half-mast, she's perfectly cast as a lamb among wolves, and her naivete is strangely affecting.
A fierce piece of farce and sharp as a kitchen knife.
Offers more than its share of tartly biting zingers, dropped to maximum comic effect by the letter-perfect Posey.
There's something quite lethal about Parker Posey in pearls, and for that inspiration director Mark Waters deserves our gratitude.
So light it almost floats away were it not somewhat anchored by the performances of Posey, Bujold and Spelling.
Can be entertaining at times, but the question about this film's long-time impact on viewers' memory is going to be a definitive "no."
Easy to forget if not for the presence of the wonderful Parker Posey.
Waters takes pains never to caricature the family members. Even Jackie-O, who could have easily become the stuff of high camp, is reigned in by Posey's performance, which is one of her best; she manages to be arch, touching and acerbic all at once.
The story seems too intent on spreading quirkiness on with a spatula to be really engaging; you can't picture these people as anything other than movie characters.
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