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Lovely & Amazing
Lions Gate Films Inc.

Lovely & Amazing reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 75 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.8 out of 10
based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language and nudity

Starring Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, Raven Goodwin, Jake Gyllenhaal, James LeGros, Michael Nouri, and Dermot Mulroney

This finely observed comedy is an intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the bittersweet lessons they learn in keeping up with the hectic demands of their individual neuroses. (Lions Gate)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Nicole Holofcener  
DIRECTED BY: Nicole Holofcener  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 26, 2002 
Video: November 26, 2002 
Theatrical: June 28, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Here is a movie that knows its women, listens to them, doesn't give them a pass, allows them to be real: It's a rebuke to the shallow "Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
Read Full Review
90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Emerges as something rare, an issue movie that's so honest and keenly observed that it doesn't feel like one. It earns its thesis statement through minute details and a unique grasp of a commonplace problem.
Read Full Review
90
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Holofcener is honest enough to present human foibles, not just as weaknesses but as unexpected sources of humor and strength.
Read Full Review
90
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Like the best of personal, independent cinema -- it is both marvelously observed and completely individual. There is no film like this film, and that is something you don't hear every day.
Read Full Review
88
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
A film of this sort demands superb, seemingly effortless acting, and Holofcener gets it at every turn.
Read Full Review
88
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Lord knows how Holofcener got the performance she did out of Goodwin, but the child actor's Annie, rude and unmanageable, is an extraordinarily rich and complicated figure.
Read Full Review
80
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Lovely & Amazing goes to the heart -- and face, and skin -- of a subject that's sure to ring true with women, and may even educate men.
80
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
In this painfully funny and touching look at the vanities and insecurities that a mother (Brenda Blethyn) can pass on to her daughters in the name of love, writer-director Nicole Holofcener ("Walking and Talking") does a chick flick right.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer and Brenda Blethyn shine in a delicate, loose-limbed and tremendously alive indie about women, family, self-image and survival.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
What keeps all this from being trite and self-indulgent is Holofcener's willingness to make her characters' neuroses unattractive and self-destructive instead of cute and endearing.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Warmhearted and slightly edgy seriocomedy, these sisters experience some pretty entertaining ups and downs. Entertaining, that is, for people who appreciate irony.
Read Full Review
78
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
You simply want the story to go on and on. Let's hope that Holofcener's movies do: Her peregrinations through the lives of contemporary women know few screen equals.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
The film is almost worth seeing just for the extraordinary scene in which a stark naked Mortimer has her movie star lover (Dermot Mulroney) deliver an exhaustive critique of her body's flaws.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is a gutsy little picture and a nice slice of life.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
It is at times serious and at times very funny. But it is always perceptive, and that quality, more than any other, is what makes it worth a recommendation.
Read Full Review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
This is a fine, funny, humane film.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
By turns cheerful, funny and melancholy, and at all times honest, Nicole Holofcener's Lovely and Amazing stands out in the current run of ensemble women's films.
75
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
This trio is like a looser, funnier version of the family of wrecks in Woody Allen's ''Interiors.''
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Loren King
Delivers a surprising, moving portrait of contemporary womanhood.
Read Full Review
75
Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
About how women see themselves in terms of bodies, age and careers, but without all the "you go girl" tripe crammed into so many other movies of this ilk.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
A chick flick of a particularly intelligent, ruthless, and loving sort.
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75
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Watching Lovely and Amazing is like coming into a long-running, well-written television series where you've missed the first half-dozen episodes and probably won't see the next six.
Read Full Review
70
New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer
A modest, uneventful film, buoyed by fine, albeit low-key, performances and the ring of truth.
70
The New York Times Stephen Holden
Holofcener's smart, acidic comedy Lovely and Amazing zeroes in on contemporary narcissism and its fallout with a relentless, needling accuracy.
Read Full Review
70
TV Guide Ken Fox
Warm, funny and often brutally honest profile of an aging divorcee and her three very different daughters.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Todd McCarthy
Engaging, intermittently insightful but too glib to wring full value out of its subject matter.
Read Full Review
70
Time Richard Schickel
This feels the way a lot of us are living now -- on desperation's dull yet still cutting edge.
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Ellen Marshall
In this era of fluffy, big-budget Hollywood "chick flicks", it's pretty refreshing to find a film that genuinely deals with women, family, self-image and survival.
Read Full Review
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
There is a certain poignancy to a film that metaphorically examines the stages of a woman's life through each character.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Laura Sinagra
Everyone in this chintz-covered world is a little creepy.
Read Full Review
50
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Holofcenere genuinely wants to make pictures that plug into an audience's need for intimate contemporary comedies. But she doesn't do enough to quench that thirst.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

T Ngo gave it a10:
It's just a beautiful film. Only a woman can write and direct this particular film - and I mean that as a compliment. I look forward to Nicole Holofcener's next work.

Richard gave it a 10:
A big surprise. Observant but not showy about it, and splendid performances all around. Even the men come off better and more human than their "chick flick" counterparts. Special mention must be made of Goodwin, who's a marvel at suggesting all sorts of things going on in her mind without showing them to you, and especially Keener, who starts off as a hateful bitch and becomes ever-so-slowly sympathetic and even likeable by the end.

Chad S. gave it a 9:
Nicole Holofcener pulls off a lot of brilliant moments in her amazing second film, but let me highlight one. Michelle (Keener) isn't a bigot, but there's a self-awareness about Annie's(Raven Goodwin) skin color when she explains the irrelevance of sunscreen to her mother's adopted daughter. The audience sees the black skin too because we're not sure what to make of Annie until the relationship is explained to us. But to Elizabeth, Annie is simply her sister, and she introduces the girl as such to strangers without explanation. She loves Annie unconditionally. Holofcener is a very good writer. She points mirrors. Blethyn, Mortimer, and Goodwin are all good, but Catherine Keener shines a little brighter. The scene at the fast-food restaurant, played out with a minimum of dialogue is incredible. We come to understand that her sister was right about who Michelle hates. Keener is great here. Michelle will soon be introducing Annie as her sister in due time. "Lovely and Amazing" is, well, lovely and amazing.

Michael F. gave it an 8:
It's a very good indie. It's depressing and funny. Keener is great at being a bitch and a half as usual. Emily Mortimer is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY cute and is very good too. It is your typical indie, 13 Conversations About One Thing is slightly similar but better. Very Good and great performances from a very good script.

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