EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Michael Morrison Not usually a fan of Nick Nolte, I thought he was great in this.Even more, Julie Kavner was GREAT in this. She was so charming, so eye- catching, so ear-catching, she would have been considered the movie- stealer if little Whittni Wright hadn't been there.That child was absolutely astonishing. With no previous movie experience, she carried out her role as if she had done it a hundred times. I hope she changes her (still young) mind and returns to film.Albert Brooks is one of my entertainment heroes, and his role here is different for him -- and he too is great.There is a sweetness -- and I don't mean sugariness -- in this film that could make it worth watching even with a lesser cast, but with such a strong and lovable bunch, it is an almost perfect movie.

knightm7 This is a movie about making movies and standing up for your beliefs and not having to bow down under the pressures of audience expectations and studio involvements, and it had musical numbers which were cut and writers come in to dumb it down because of audience expectations and studio involvements.But I found all that out after I first saw the movie and thought it was great entertainment. I love Nick Nolte, he's so grave and gruff and depressed that I hope he doesn't kill himself cause I really like everything he's done, even The Hulk, and especially Affliction and that Martin Short with a kid movie. Joely Richardson is gorgeous! Julie Kavner and James Brooks are great. I highly recommend this film, and hope to see it again soon on DVD with all of the deleted scenes.

MeinFuhrerICanWalk This is one of those movies that I have grown to love almost inspite of itself. Yes, it's haphazard and kind of all over the place, and yet I am compelled to watch it through to the end whenever it plays on the telly. I can't quite figure out how well the characters are actually written, but they are played so beautifully that it really doesn't matter. I've always liked Nick Nolte but he's never been one of my 'favourites'. When I saw this film though, he completely won me over: he's selfish yet tender, brusque yet warm - just a wonderful, brave performance. Whitni Wright as Jeannie is remarkable - for any age. She is so utterly natural and believable, capturing the exasperating but ultimately disarming precociousness of childhood perfectly. It's a pity she has stopped acting, I think she would be amazing. It's also great to see Julie 'Marge Simpson' Kavner on the screen, she's severely underused by Hollywood - a great talent (remember 'Radio Days'?) And by the way, the film is about much more than an errant father mending his ways and changing his attitude toward his neglected kid, it's about a man unsure of his own worth finally changing his attitude toward HIMSELF. All in all, a gem despite its shortcomings.

aussiejane_ Although I found the movie a bit frenetic, it seemed to have a ring of truth about how things work in Hollywood (especially the "Would you sleep with him?" scene). Nick Nolte keeps everything going, as usual, with his marvelous acting. Is there any other "big guy" actor who can cry believably (well, maybe Harrison Ford)? He was just terrific, so believable as the father who didn't know what to do with his spoiled brat daughter. And wasn't Whittni Wright amazing? I can only hope that was acting, as I've seen plenty of kids just like her. The supporting cast was terrific. It was hard to pinpoint what there was about this movie that made it not quite so good as it could have been. Perhaps it was that it really was an "in-house" film, one that anyone who has been through what the various characters have could identify with, but perhaps not us out in the hinterlands (coming from Wyoming to Australia, I'm definitely hinterland!). Kudos to actors and director for keeping this film together. With lesser talent, it could have fallen flat on its face.