A very difficult film to get into, this focuses on characters that you dislike from the beginning, well maybe not the young girl who is simply a product of her circumstances. Ellen Barkin is a very good actress and plays this trouble mother who becomes an alcoholic abuser with great conviction. But who wants to spend 90 minutes watching that when there is no real triumph at the end for her, only more despair and tragedy for the daughter. Yes, it may be real life, but you feel like you are peaking in someone's kitchen window and shouldn't be there.
Oprah has a smaller part as a neighbor who becomes the saving grace to the young girl, but even that isn't enough to save her. This was probably better as a book, but to see it unfold on screen, you want to reach for a bottle of wine which is hardly the point that the stories trying to make. Good performances certainly, but not at all an inspiring story.
Oprah has a smaller part as a neighbor who becomes the saving grace to the young girl, but even that isn't enough to save her. This was probably better as a book, but to see it unfold on screen, you want to reach for a bottle of wine which is hardly the point that the stories trying to make. Good performances certainly, but not at all an inspiring story.