Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

SnoopyStyle Grace Beasley (Kathy Bates) is happily married in Chicago until her husband Max unexpectedly leaves her after watching the window cleaner (Peter Sarsgaard). Her son Andrew had also left his dwarf wife Maudey. When her favorite singer Victor Fox gets murdered by a crossbow serial killer, she decides to go to his funeral in Britain. On the plane over, Julie Andrews starts a sing-along in cockpit during a storm. She meets Victor's angry lover Dirk Simpson (Rupert Everett) and his estranged sister Nola Fox (Lynn Redgrave). She convinces Dirk to go to Chicago with her and track down the killer.P.J. Hogan has made several of my favorite movies. I like some of his quirky sensibilities but this movie seems to be trying too hard. It's also unnecessarily dark in that the darkness seems random and clunky. This is also overstuffed with a running time of 2 hours. I love the brash wild Meredith Eaton. I really wish she went along to Britain. Kathy Bates isn't funny and the movie needs her to be. Rupert Everett takes the movie to something overly serious which is unearned considering how ridiculous Nola Fox is. Nobody is really anti-gay except the family. Julie Andrews is hilarious which points to how jarring the movie changes its tone. This movie has too many things that doesn't work.

susannealia This movie definitely hits the funny bone right on: make sure you have your popcorn and drink ready and are sitting comfortably before it begins, and be ready to be sad when you realise it's over... Kathy Bates as usual strikes all the top notes in her superlative role playing, and is fully matched by the rest of the cast let alone the excellent story and script they are playing out. Get ready to enjoy.The story is particularly poignant as it carries you across different cultures and social stratas both within US daily life, and also across the ocean in UK.. Along the way, it confronts plenty of stereo types from across society, picking holes and touching the pulse of where real people reside within their niches and clichés..

raskin46 I wonder why I haven't heard of this movie before. It's truly a magnificent comedy (I'd say farce, but it's too well acted and I'd hate to denigrate it's quality). A comedic character study about the travails of mid-life crises, the inequity for gays who can't have their long-time unions recognized, and the general differences of people who can't fit nicely into society, that pairs Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett to a wonderful effect. Forget Julia Roberts and Rupert; Kathy Bates and Rupert should do another movie together. The anxiety-ridden, acerbic and outrageous daughter-in-law, Maudie (Meredith Eaton), is a truly wonderful character. If you liked the Tales of the City films, you'd like this quirky charmer.

mike gordon Stumbled across this movie on HBO while on vacation. It was either this or watching CNN all night. In hindsight, I should have stuck with CNN. Sure the cast is excellent. I too am a fan of Bates, Everett & Pryce. In my opinion, Bates' best performances have been in Stephen King's adaptations, i.e. the horror genre. Apart from being a horror to watch, this movie does not fall into that category. It's very difficult to decide what category to place it in at all. I was continually wincing throughout as such characters like Julie Andrews appeared and tried to calm a situation down by singing a song. I can only hope these actors/actresses were doing this for a charity fun event. The worst part of the movie was when it decided to gown down the 'thriller/whodunit' route and the main cast tracked down the killer. No, I changed my mind, the worst part was the TV interview section at the end. It certainly made me wish I'd kept all the little vomit bags from the plane.