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Lovely & Amazing
Lions Gate Films Inc.


8.8

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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FILM:

Friends with Money

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

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."

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.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Holofcener is honest enough to present human foibles, not just as weaknesses but as unexpected sources of humor and strength.

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.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

A film of this sort demands superb, seemingly effortless acting, and Holofcener gets it at every turn.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The result is a gutsy little picture and a nice slice of life.

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.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

This is a fine, funny, humane film.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This trio is like a looser, funnier version of the family of wrecks in Woody Allen's ''Interiors.''

Chicago Tribune Loren King

Delivers a surprising, moving portrait of contemporary womanhood.

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.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A chick flick of a particularly intelligent, ruthless, and loving sort.

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.

New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer

A modest, uneventful film, buoyed by fine, albeit low-key, performances and the ring of truth.

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Warm, funny and often brutally honest profile of an aging divorcee and her three very different daughters.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Engaging, intermittently insightful but too glib to wring full value out of its subject matter.

Time Richard Schickel

This feels the way a lot of us are living now -- on desperation's dull yet still cutting edge.

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.

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.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

Everyone in this chintz-covered world is a little creepy.

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.

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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Lovely & Amazing Lions Gate Films Inc.

Lovely & Amazing
Lions Gate Films Inc.