Patman

Mike Binder wrote and directed a star vehicle for Joan Allen, and the results are pretty good. Plenty of laughs and chuckles from anger and exasperation from Terri (Joan's charater) and her relationship with her 4 daughters, and a blooming kinship with a neighbor (Kevin Costner) after her husband leaves her and the family.

If you're in the mood for a dramedy, I think this film should hit the spot.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

jfoobar

Ebert absolutely drooled over it in his 4-star review. It looks good.

movielib

I've been really looking forward to seeing it. I love Joan Allen.

Frank TJ Mackey

I really liked it. The perfect mix of drama and comedy. Kevin Costner delivered perfect comic timing and Joan Allen was great as usual.

Squirrel God

*speechless*

vedderstapp

Don't be so surprised... he's a funny, slef depreciating man.

Can't wait for this.

Geofferson

I'd like to see this as well. Perhaps someday this week now that it's in more theaters.

rkndkn

Nobody embodies a gone-to-seed athlete like Kevin Costner. I enjoyed his and Joan Allen's performances. I felt like I should have seen the story's turn coming, but it felt that they threw in the other bit to mislead us.

I'd give it a B-.

Third Baseman

Great performances from everyone in the cast. Each had a shining moment. A really worthy film.

Texasgingersnap

I saw it today and it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it was odd.

3 out of the four females were so thin they looked ill and by comparison the cute, busty blond ended up looking chunky next to them! (Sorry not good with names, one of the females is Ms. Allen, don't know the daughters except for Ms. Witt, who is looking a lot older than the last time I saw her. She's briming with talent however.)

The dress the mother of the bride wore was The WORST dress I've ever seen in the movies! Ucky! She really, really looked like a refugee from a concentration camp with two tiny plums for boobs. The color was hideous as well. And since I'm such a fashion critic all of the sudden.... the dress that the daughter that danced wore when she told her mom about the school she wanted to attend was absolutely beautiful and looked wonderful on her!

Kevin looked like an aging, balding, guy with a pot. (And thank God they cut his pot scene!) The best thing we did was when he went into the bathroom to tell her off. I didn't get the whole 'I don't want to talk about baseball' deal. Maybe it's a guy thing.

I'll probably try and catch it again to see if there's something vital I missed the first go-round. My daughter rented it, and I'd say a RENT IT is a fair assessment....

Now, don't get me wrong, the acting from all concerned was first rate, but the story was lame and the pace was boring. I just caught myself feeling uncomfortable with the whole face of anger....it went on and on and on and on.... I think maybe it's because I don't care for Ms. Allen and I kept comparing the film to Something's Gotta Give and naturally it fell short of that mark.

MoviePage

Didn't like it at all, even though I expected to given the reviews and the fact that Joan Allen is a great actress. Saw the "twist" ending coming from a mile away, and it felt really contrived.

LiquidSky

I rented/watched this weekend. Joan Allen and Kevin Coster were excellent and I would give their performances an "A". I would give the film a "C+".

Geofferson

I enjoyed both the performances and the movie itselef. The humor in this was awfully similar to Mike Binder's short-lived HBO series The Mind of the Married Man. I loved his scene with Joan Allen's character at the wedding ceremony.

Anyone notice that Kevin Costner's promo picture was a shot of him from the movie For Love of the Game?

badger1997

I enjoyed the movie and the performances, but the "twist" really wasn't a twist for me. I figured from the beginning where they are at a funeral that is what happened. I wasn't exactly sure what happened until but it wasn't too hard to see it coming.

I think what made this move really good for me was the realism of it. Some of the conversations and things said in the film felt so real like they were taken out of my life. It reminded me a lot of Closer and You Can Count On Me in that way. I know those are three very different films, but they all felt real to me, like things I had heard in my own life or even said. It's hard to capture that so honestly and it's refreshing to see sometimes.

Strangely enough, one of my favorite characters in the film was Shep, Costner's producer. He seemed like a jerk at first, but things just spiraled for him when it wasn't even his fault as I saw it. I'm not sure i ever have the need to see the movie again, but I definitely think it's worth at least a rental.