Blaironit Excellent film with a gripping story!

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

adonis98-743-186503 A series of overlapping stories about four suburban families dealing with different maladies. Esther Gold's life is consumed by caring for her comatose son; Jim Train is sent into a tailspin when he's passed over for a promotion; Annette Jennings' family is struggling in the wake of her divorce; Helen Christianson is determined to shake up her mundane life. The Safety of Objects (2001) is a tough drama not because it's going to make you cry or anything but because it's tough in order to actually enjoy it there are stuff in this film that i didn't found dramatic enough or clever enough to actually make sense to me. For example Jim Train's son is addicted with a Barbie doll like a lot and Jim himself wants Esther his neighbor to win a car for no reason. Randy keeps calling Sam (played by Kristen Stewart in her then film debut) Johnny and i get it he lost a loved one but i think 50% of the audience could tell back then that Kristen was a girl and not a boy just saying. Now on the good side of things the performances are quite well and feel pretty real, the whole scenario with Julie and why she acts so weird was a good twist for the ending and the overall movie it's quite interesting as a whole it's just that i expected more drama than just some small dozes of it. (7/10)

rodolphefleury OK it's trying to be groundbreaking but the cinematography is dull as hell, it's over sentimental, there's too many characters, a plot that tries too hard to make sense, unbelievable characters although the actors try really hard ... The problem is you can't believe in the characters at all: the worse being the kid in love with a Barbie doll, it's trying to be meaningful, poetic and cute but it's just plain daft. The lawyer who's disappointed because he hasn't been rewarded, once again hard to swallow he wants to help the poor mother trying to care for her disable son and trying to win a car, none of that makes sense, and the film is trying to force you to believe it. Is that suppose to be Realistic suburbia? No way. This film is pointless and trying to pass as deep and dramatic. Sorry this film is just pure sentimentalism with tons of gimmicks, lots of idiotic subplots and a corny ending. A complete waste of time

villianlasegunda This film, which is supposed to be adapted from a collection of short stories written by A. M. Homes, is extremely painful to watch. The film follows four different neighborhood families with intertwining lives, while the book is simply stories about unrelated individuals and is, in fact, much more powerful. In the film each individual from the short stories becomes a member of a troubled family, making it so that the some of stories are barely touched on, while others are elaborated. Though the elaborate ones may be fairly easy to understand, the tales that are brushed over seem to have little relevance to the film and make the viewer feel confused and empty. The book may stand alone, but if you have not read it, you will not understand the film which is so muddled and filled with material that at two hours long is easily two hours too much. I continued watching until the end, hoping that there would some conclusion to make the intertwining families' lives have a significant meaning, and felt so exasperated that I finally stopped the film with five minutes left, feeling unable to watch a second longer.

Paul Mustac Worth being seen. Well paced. A soap opera style mingling of plots. Reassuring - if you live with children - to see that it's not just yours that would drive a normal person nuts. You come away with the impression that even the unemployed are rich in America. Nobody seems to have a job in suburbia! The only job seen is awful. You get the feeling that this is a movie made by women: women don't work, jobs leave you no free time, husbands don't have sex and ignore their children. Then there is the soap opera plot format - which however is much faster paced, at times swirling through the stories one shot each, faster and faster. I don't think there is much of a conclusion to the movie. Nothing goes too wrong. Life looks great in American suburbia.