Lovely & Amazing (2001)
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.
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.
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
Cast
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Catherine Keener
Michelle Marks -
Brenda Blethyn
Jane Marks -
Emily Mortimer
Elizabeth Marks -
Raven Goodwin
Annie Marks -
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jordan -
Dermot Mulroney
Kevin McCabe -
James LeGros
Paul -
Clark Gregg
Bill -
Aunjanue Ellis
Loraine -
Michael Nouri
Dr. Crane
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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.
Top CriticA film of this sort demands superb, seemingly effortless acting, and Holofcener gets it at every turn.
This is a fine, funny, humane film.
This is soap opera with a brain, as she reveals four people ... at their most unguarded and, therefore, honest and bitterly funny.
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.
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.
Mature story about relationships and family.
Seldom do movies create focus through spontaneity, but Lovely & Amazing feeds on surprise
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.
This serio-comic family portrait about self-absorption, self-esteem and family dynamics is excellently acted but more blatantly offbeat than dramatic.
Actresses beware. Catherine Keener is quietly cornering the market on self-assured, sharp-tongued feminism.
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.
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.
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.
Captures the body-image insecurities of women while delving more than skin-deep into her characters' psyches.
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.
The cast and crew interviews aren't lengthy, but they're enlightening.
Not long enough to be a 'message movie', but insightful enough to hold our attention while exploring the lives of these characters.
Click to read review
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.
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.
A refreshing reminder that not every movie about women must be a hollow, empty, self-indulgent 'chick flick.'
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