Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

SnoopyStyle Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) is a working actor unable to get good gigs. His professional life is diminished by the likes of arrogant producer Burke Adler (Albert Brooks) who ropes him into being his driver. His wife leaves their daughter Jeannie (Whittni Wright) with him even thought he hasn't seen her in 2 years. He's attracted to like-minded production assistant Cathy Breslow (Joely Richardson).Nick Nolte has an angry intensity. I think James L Brooks is looking for that odd couple with a gruff old guy and a little girl. I get it but it's the anger in him and quite frankly the little girl that makes it hard to laugh at. The little girl has a streak of meanness in her. She's not just the quintessential cute little girl. She's yelling for the first half of the movie. The duo has their cute moments but not any funny moments.Albert Brooks has some funny moments but he doesn't really fit the stereotype of a Hollywood producer. He's a more bumbling character than that. It's hard to see him push anybody around.

Al Rodbell This film could have been shot in a month, since everything in it had a freshness and spontaneity that can only come when nothing is labored. I don't know the film world, but this seemed genuine, with the characters each with their own struggles.Nick Nolte's relation with his "difficult" daughter was something to enjoy. When his hopes were raised to get the big role, only to find out it wasn't going to happen, devastation, closing the door and crying in the bathroom, was what could be expected.We only get so many chances in life, and when we miss one that very well could be our last, our life is altered irretrievable. Nothing could be more real, whether it is getting a movie part or a promotion to manager at Walmart.And the six year old who played his daughter, recruited from a clogging class in Georgia from a working class family. She was just a normal little girl, not a child actress, but someone who fit perfectly. And she went back to Georgia and then on to a local College to study Business Administration.Somehow, this film received a low rating here and apparently was a box office failure, yet every written comment was of the vein of this one, laudatory. Perhaps that was the subplot of the film exemplified by its lack of success.Brooks producer character made his films with loud explosions and tested it as a product to satisfy an audience. Artistry had nothing to do with what he was manufacturing. This film was a rare treat, but would never been made by Brooks, or anyone else apparently.But this one got through, and is a pleasure for those who can appreciate it.

steinw When I watched this movie I had two questions in my head:1) Where have I seen her (Joely Richardson) before? 2) Why is Nick Nolte doing this part, and not Ted Danson?The answer to Q1) is not so very interesting, but it is 101 Dalmatians. The answer to Q2) is more interesting. It seemed like Nick Nolte was trying to look and act like Ted Danson, especially in the beginning (when the character was young). And normally the original is better than the copy.Besides those two questions I think the movie was OK entertainment, but not more than that. The film is not trying to tell us something. If they wanted they could have made much more out of the issue "How is it to be a child actor?", but they didn't. Fair enough.Don't spend your money buying this film, but watch it if it gets aired on a TV.

Bill Davis This is an excellent movie with interesting, well-drawn characters, especially that of complicated little girl. Nolte gives one of his great performances as the sensitive actor-father. This movie didn't get the attention it deserved when it came out, because it had become known that it was originally planned as a musical, but the musical numbers were cut out after audience testing -- which was ironic, since the movie had many references to audience-testing movies. They could have turned all that on its ear by having a closing-credits sequence with the producers audience testing the movie and deciding to PUT IN musical numbers, and then running excerpts of the excised musical numbers. The critics would have been confused as to whether it had really ever been planned to be a musical in the first place, and it would have brilliantly augmented the subject-matter of the movie.