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The Safety of Objects (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 72
Fresh: 35
Rotten:37
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Consensus: The large cast of characters and scripting are too unwieldy, and the suburban angst theme feels tired.
Theatrical Release:Mar 7, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $86,250
Synopsis: THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS is an American suburban drama filled with subversive humour. We uncover the lives of four neighbouring families as they struggle to make honest human relationships. In doing... THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS is an American suburban drama filled with subversive humour. We uncover the lives of four neighbouring families as they struggle to make honest human relationships. In doing so the characters realise they must emerge from the isolation provided by...the safety of objects. In a desirable American suburb four families' lives become entwined. PAUL GOLD (Joshua Jackson) lies in his bedroom in a coma, nursed by his mother, ESTHER GOLD (Glenn Close), who in her role has unintentionally distanced herself from her husband and her teenage daughter, JULIE (Jessica Campbell). JIM TRAIN (Dermot Mulroney) is a lawyer who has more intimacy with his work than with his wife SUSAN (Moira Kelly), who in response chooses to settle into their new life without him. Their son JAKE is finding it hard to conceal his burgeoning relationship with his sister's doll, Tani, the twelve-inch girl he adores. ANNETTE JENNINGS (Patricia Clarkson), once Paul's lover, is in the midst of a messy divorce and is trying to keep herself together while bringing up her children, SAM and RAYANNE, on a shoestring. HELEN CHRISTIANSON (Mary Kay Place), bored by her husband and the banalities of everyday life looks for something or someone to spark her. Over the course of four days Esther enters a competition to win a car for her daughter and Jim, frustrated by his job, plays hooky to help her win; Jake throws over the Tani doll for some real friends; Annette reclaims her life when RANDY (Timothy Olyphant) enters Sam's and Helen discovers what she has at home is not something she wants to replace. -- © 2002 Renaissance Films [More]
Starring: Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney, Joshua Jackson
Starring: Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney, Joshua Jackson, Moira Kelly, Robert Klein, Timothy Olyphant, Jessica Campbell, Kristen Stewart, Mary Kay Place
Director: Rose Troche
Director: Rose Troche
Screenwriter: Rose Troche
Producer: Dorothy Berwin, Christine Vachon
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for The Safety of Objects
Though well-acted, Troche's third film, an adaptation of short stories, is a minor addition of a fractured, ensemble narrative to the overly populated genre of suburban malaise and anomie in the wake of the success of Mendes' Oscar-winner American Beauty
Four neighboring families, seven stories, one secret - one great movie.
Troche has created a truly moving film, upsetting and uplifting in equal measure.
Simply put, there's too much going on, and too many fragile, damaged characters to fret appropriately over.
A richly compelling movie that is as hard to forget as it is difficult to warm up to.
It's a movie located in an interesting place, but without quite enough self-confidence really to inhabit it.
The sheer number and variety of miseries on view suggest a kind of wallowing.
The effectiveness of The Safety of Objects and all such 'burb-angst weepies comes down to how far viewers will go toward feeling empathetic, or even sympathetic, rather than resentful toward such self-absorbed and self-loathing characters.
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