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She's So Lovely on DVD (1997)

She's So Lovely cover art
Average rating: 48%
171720111
2.5
from 345 members
 
Starring: Sean Penn, John Travolta, Robin Wright Penn, Harry Dean Stanton, Debi Mazar, Neill Barry, Clayton Landey, Gena Rowlands, Chloe Webb, Burt Young, Jason O'Malley, Paul Johansson, Tito Larriva, Susan Traylor, James Gandolfini, Nina Barry, Jam
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Studio: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 92 mins
Certificate: 15
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Released: 15/06/2006

Brief synopsis of She's So Lovely

Married mom Maureen and her doting husband, Joey, find their lives of domestic tranquillity rent asunder by the resurgence of Maureen's first husband, Eddie, an alcoholic so violent and obsessive that Maureen had him committed. But she's nonetheless torn between her present state of stability and the unequivocal passion of her former life. SHE'S SO LOVELY is a difficult, demanding romantic comedy with characters who wear their flaws proudly, directed by Nick Cassavetes from his late father John's unsold script; Sean Penn snagged the Best Actor award at Cannes.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 3 stars out of 5 Radio Times

At one time Nick Cassavetes looked as if he would be just another actor with a more famous relative who would eke out a living in straight-to-video land (see Frank Stallone, Don Swayze, etc). However, he has successfully reinvented himself as a director and although the influences of his independent film-maker father John are clear to see (this is actually based on an unfilmed Cassavetes Sr script written a decade earlier), this affectingly offbeat drama stands up in its own right. Sean Penn plays a mentally troubled young man who is locked away in a psychiatric hospital when he goes berserk and shoots an ambulance driver. Ten years later he is released and sets out to find his wife (Robin Wright Penn), who unbeknown to him has divorced him and married John Travolta. It's a slight tale, but the performances, particularly from Sean Penn (who won the best actor award at Cannes), are finely judged and in its own peculiar way it's a heart-warming affair.

Los Angeles Times

"...Penn does some of the best acting of his career. So does Wright Penn, and Travolta shows up at the half-way mark to do an irresistible turn in a rare supporting role..."

Halliwell's Film Guide

An unconvincing triangular love story with overheated performances; the script was written more than 20 years ago and it shows its age.

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 1 starsLovely? I don't think so.

Nigel Harvey from Hastings, England , 08/02/2006

Lonely, pathetic, alcoholic, perhaps, but not lovely. The heroine's(?) neighbour is lecherous and violent, and her husband Eddie is not much better. Romantic comedy? No, just violence and bad language, and no romance at all. We gave up after about half and hour. (Maybe we missed the romantic bits?)

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Rated - 3 starsAn opposite view

JG Weston from Chelmsford, Essex , 01/06/2005

This film has a poor start, after 10-15 minutes (or maybe sooner) you start to think 'Do I really want to watch this?'. However if you persevere, it does get better. The film is in two halves, the first is all about Murph (Robin Wright Penn) and Eddie (Sean Penn) and their difficult relationship. Then there is a 10 year gap and we pick up with Eddie when he gets out of the institution and his wife has remarried. This to me seemed the better part of the film and we spent too long getting here. The first part of the film seems to be stereotypes, drunkenness, rape, violence; not exactly an enjoyable evening's viewing. The second part of the film starts to open up with good acting and character portrayal by all the actors, including the eldest daughter. However just when the film was starting to get somewhere, the panorama from the opening credits reappeared (does anyone know where that was?) and the credits rolled. In my view the screen-writer had a good idea but couldn't quite pull it off in the writing. Very good acting though, but the film would have been so much better with a better screen-play.

JG

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsA Quality Act

Claire W from Liverpool , 24/09/2004

The first half of this movie is film making at its finest. Sean Penn and particularly Robin Wright Penn are fantastic playing a messed up, broken, troubled couple living on the edge of normal society.It is not pretty to watch but damn it is gritty and funny.

The second half suffers in the casting of Travolta but supporting actors such as Dean Stanton and Gandolfini are very good.

Cassavetes has made his father proud I am sure - wonderful script, great performances, a really unusual gem of a movie to find.

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Rated - 3 starsNearly there, but missed

A customer from London , 16/10/2005

The film was worth seeing but was slightly disappointing. It could have been brilliant, but some parts were just slightly unbelievable. Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn are great actors and some scenes were incredibly moving but it fell flat for me when Robin's character just ups and leaves her three kids after ten years 'just like that'.

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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 3 starsAn opposite view

JG Weston from Chelmsford, Essex , 01/06/2005

This film has a poor start, after 10-15 minutes (or maybe sooner) you start to think 'Do I really want to watch this?'. However if you persevere, it does get better. The film is in two halves, the first is all about Murph (Robin Wright Penn) and Eddie (Sean Penn) and their difficult relationship. Then there is a 10 year gap and we pick up with Eddie when he gets out of the institution and his wife has remarried. This to me seemed the better part of the film and we spent too long getting here. The first part of the film seems to be stereotypes, drunkenness, rape, violence; not exactly an enjoyable evening's viewing. The second part of the film starts to open up with good acting and character portrayal by all the actors, including the eldest daughter. However just when the film was starting to get somewhere, the panorama from the opening credits reappeared (does anyone know where that was?) and the credits rolled. In my view the screen-writer had a good idea but couldn't quite pull it off in the writing. Very good acting though, but the film would have been so much better with a better screen-play.

JG

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsDark

A customer from Broom, Beds , 17/04/2007

Good film, well worth watching - great connection with Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn

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