In Her Shoes

In Her Shoes (2005) is a film about two sisters who are vastly different. Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette play these sisters. Cameron Diaz is a woman who very much depends on her looks in life. She is a partier type who doesn't really take responsibility for much of anything, she ends up staying with Collette's character when she is out of a job. Eventually, Collette gets tired of her mooching and something leads to her kicking her out. After she does this, Diaz discovers these old cards that were sent by her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine). She decides to go see her, her father had kept her and her sister from her when they were growing up. The film then becomes this touching drama about family reuniting and learning about one another. All the performances here were great. Diaz, MacLaine, and Collette all do a great job with their roles. They all had this great entertaining chemistry too, made it that much better to watch. The story is interesting and the writing is well done. This film does it all right if you ask me. It's not one of my all time favorites, but i did enjoy it very much. 8/10 for In Her Shoes.

Old wounds, family secrets, screwed up relationships with perfectly logical explanations. A film that starts beautifully and then spends an inordinate amount of time meandering to finally arrive to its soft but beautiful center. Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette have wonderful moments as the star crossed sisters. Their feelings as genuine as they are, never seem to find a common ground until Shirley MacLaine makes her entrance. I must confess I was very moved by her, by her performance. Her most human and real in many, many years. She is the glue that keeps all the elements together and presents them to us with that unmistakable flair of hers for feisty truths and uncompromising tough love. I don't know quite how I feel about Curtis Hanson as a director. Personally, my favorite of his films is "Wonder Boys" and in a way "In Her Shoes" is closer to that one, without being as good, than any of his other movies. However, I'm recommending it wholeheartedly, specially to my sisters.

I was very surprised by this movie. I try not to expect too much of films my girlfriend can't wait to see. I was surprised this didn't follow the usual 'mills & boon' formula with sisterly love hate peppered loosely. Certain references in particular to the shoe thread throughout kept the interest of the majority of girlie's around, but the evolving relationships of the main characters were finely crafted and kept the interest of non-chick-flicking shoe-loving shopaholic minority. The music was nice backdrop to the lives of Rose and Maggie, but for my money, the use of E.E. Cummings poems took this past the norm and into the quite enjoyable category.

If you're not a chick flick fan worth the viewing time.

If you are, well worth the entrance fee too.

In Philadelphia, the irresponsible and selfish Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is a drunken easy woman having sex with many men. Her sister Rose (Toni Collette) is the opposite, responsible lawyer but needy and having complex, compulsively buying shoes to relief her frustrations. Maggie is expelled from her father home by her stepmother, and Rose lodges her sister in her apartment. When Maggie has one night stand with Rose's boyfriend, Rose sends her sister away. She finds letters and postcards from her missing grandmother Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine) that she believed had died that lives in a retirement compound in Florida hidden in her father's drawer, and without any option, she decides to travel to meet Ella. With Ella, Maggie changes, becoming another woman and improving the relationships in her family.

"In Her Shoes" is a feel-good comedy with an excellent lead trio of actresses. The story about sisterhood and parenthood is bitter sweet, alternating funny and dramatic moments and with a nice conclusion. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Em Seu Lugar" ("In Your Place")

Enjoyable but slightly flawed, In Her Shoes is definitely deeper than a chick-flick in the handling of the characters. Toni Collette is excellent as usual, as well as Shirley MacLaine, yet I couldn't help thinking while watching that I should read the book it was based on and get a deeper look at these people and their lives. I felt the film could have gone into more detail and I expected it to be longer, as so many plot developments felt somewhat simplified to fit them all in to a 2-hour running time. That's my biggest criticism of the film, but it was enjoyable in general and I had a wonderful time watching. A few other things I enjoyed: the Rocky reference (my favorite), and the opening sequence during the credits. I have to credit this last one to both screenwriter and director for this incredible opening, which in completely visual terms sets up the film's themes. The titles are presented in cuts between the two sisters, highlighting both their conflict and their connection to one another. Generally, it has a nice balance between dead-seriousness and light drama, but I wish there was more of it to comment on.