Opening

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60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
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Lovely & Amazing (2001)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 121
Fresh: 104 | Rotten: 17

The bitingly truthful Lovely & Amazing is a smart and perceptive female character study.

90

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 3

The bitingly truthful Lovely & Amazing is a smart and perceptive female character study.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 4,954

My Rating

Movie Info

Nicole Holofcener, writer/director of the critically acclaimed Walking and Talking, shifts her focus from New York to Los Angeles for her second feature, Lovely & Amazing. Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies) is a middle-aged woman who's about to undergo liposuction. She has three daughters. Michelle (Catherine Keener) is a cynical, self-involved, would-be artist in an unhappy marriage. Elizabeth is a struggling actress who constantly takes in stray dogs. Her insecurities about her

R,

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Nicole Holofcener

Nov 26, 2002

$4.2M

Lions Gate Releasing - Official Site External Icon

Cast

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All Critics (123) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (107) | Rotten (17) | DVD (17)

Observed without corny resolutions and paced to allow for reflection, the film is understated but spot on.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A film of this sort demands superb, seemingly effortless acting, and Holofcener gets it at every turn.

July 26, 2002 Full Review Source: Miami Herald
Miami Herald
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This is a fine, funny, humane film.

July 26, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
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This is soap opera with a brain, as she reveals four people ... at their most unguarded and, therefore, honest and bitterly funny.

July 19, 2002
Washington Post
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The ensemble Holofcener has assembled comprises some of the best actresses working today, and they inhabit their roles with the astringency and softness these characters demand.

July 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The impressive thing about Holofcener's non-judgemental generosity with character, which at times recalls an American Mike Leigh, is that she makes no concessions to easy endearment.

July 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mature story about relationships and family.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Seldom do movies create focus through spontaneity, but Lovely & Amazing feeds on surprise

August 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com
Filmcritic.com

I thought the entire movie was a good message of how self-image can make a woman feel inferior and deprecating in a shallow heartless world.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed
Cinema Crazed

This serio-comic family portrait about self-absorption, self-esteem and family dynamics is excellently acted but more blatantly offbeat than dramatic.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review
Sacramento News & Review

Actresses beware. Catherine Keener is quietly cornering the market on self-assured, sharp-tongued feminism.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound
Big Picture Big Sound

Has a lovely feel, interactions that are real & unafraid to broach life's insecurities -- ie: personal appearance from hair to body fat. However, doesn't add up to amazing.

April 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | Comment (1)
Hollywood Report Card

Who'd have thought spending 90 minutes with a bunch of neurotic women could be such fun? An intelligent, unassuming drama that's never less than enjoyable.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

I can't imagine why a guy would go to this movie. That is, unless he talks to me or some other guy who has seen it. Because it's one of the best films I've seen this year.

October 7, 2004 Full Review Source: tonymedley.com

Captures the body-image insecurities of women while delving more than skin-deep into her characters' psyches.

June 25, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

As in Walking and Talking, her comic lament on the evils that brides do to their maids of honor, [Nicole] Holofcener strikes a careful balance between distaff divertissement and stark, semiautobiographical realism.

May 19, 2004 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

The cast and crew interviews aren't lengthy, but they're enlightening.

March 2, 2004 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

Not long enough to be a 'message movie', but insightful enough to hold our attention while exploring the lives of these characters.

March 2, 2004 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

Click to read review

January 12, 2004 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com
TheMovieReport.com

There are a lot of deeper issues in this film that most films don't focus and it's a credit to Holofcener that she brings it out.

May 13, 2003 Full Review Source: BlackFilm.com
BlackFilm.com

After this, you'd like to think that the studios might let Holofcener turn her attention to a few more US TV shows. They need talents like her.

March 26, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

A refreshing reminder that not every movie about women must be a hollow, empty, self-indulgent 'chick flick.'

January 28, 2003 Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies
Mark Reviews Movies

Audience Reviews for Lovely & Amazing

The fat black adopted girl is really, really funny. I do think Nicole Holofcener has a gift in comedy, but I don't like this as much as Please Give.
May 1, 2011
jennifxu

Super Reviewer

Not really so lovely, and definitely not amazing. Just average...
October 5, 2010
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

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