Movie review: 'Lovely & Amazing celebrates complex lives Movie review: 'Lovely & Amazing celebrates complex lives (July 31, 2002)

By Ramin Setoodeh

Special to the Almanac

In "Lovely & Amazing," a romantic comedy now showing at the Park Theatre in Menlo Park, Catherine Keener plays a restless housewife who gets a job at a one-hour photo shop. She soon finds herself attracted to her 16-year-old boss (Jake Gyllenhaal), a wry and pimply teenager who is equally restless -- and before anyone can say, "Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson," they kiss in the back seat of her automobile.

Normally, this would feel like the standard Hollywood slop. But "Lovely & Amazing," as directed and written by Nicole Holofcener, is smarter than that. The plot follows three women and a girl, all from the same family, different in age, and similarly obsessed with their looks. The dialogue sounds real, the performances hit the right mark, and the movie is a celebration of these characters -- alert, smart and full of life.

Brenda Blethyn stars as Jane, a grandmotherly mother who has two adult daughters: Michelle (Ms. Keener) and Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer). She is rich, but alone, and because of this, the movie suggests, she had adopted a third daughter, Annie (Raven Goodwin), who is 8 years old and black.

The movie works because it treats each of those characters as fully human. They have real problems and real insecurities. They are not always likeable. And no one pretends that they are.

In the opening scenes, Jane announces that she wants the liposuction surgery she has long considered. Michelle objects at first, but not as much as when Jane asks her to take care of Annie for a few days.

Michelle has a daughter of her own, and a husband named Bill (Clark Gregg) who doesn't pay enough attention to her. She spends her days making miniature furniture and hand-made wallpaper, and tries to sell them to boutique shops.

To this, the plot adds Elizabeth -- a struggling actress played with charming vulnerability by Ms. Mortimer. She is unhappy with her boyfriend, and spends more time worrying about her flabby elbows than their relationship. Ms. Mortimer is beautiful by Hollywood standards, and the fact that her character is so obsessed with her appearance demonstrates how self-involved she has become.

The movie has a nice ability to build the scenes on top of one another, although so many characters are involved in the story. The plot development seems appropriate and logical. Now that's important.

One of the most pleasant surprises is the Annie character, played by 10-year-old Raven Goodwin. The child is passed from one character to the next -- to Michelle, as Jane is about to have liposuction; to Elizabeth, as Michelle gets a job at the photo store; to a friend, as Elizabeth goes on a date with an actor (played with the right amount of narcissism by Dermot Mulroney).

This is the first movie appearance for Raven Goodwin, whose performance is filled with the wit and charm that it needs to keep the three story lines together. Although a child, she infuses her role with a passionate maturity uncommon in most adult actors. She has real talent.

"Lovely & Amazing" succeeds because the screenplay understands how women interact with one another, and the men in their lives. The characters are obsessive, opinionated and strong-willed -- and, in the end, the movie doesn't pretend their problems are all solved. It knows exactly how far to go, and when to stop; it's a real treasure.

Ramin Setoodeh, a Stanford student and a writer last summer at the Almanac, edits the entertainment section of the Stanford Weekly, where he also reviews films.