Wild Iris

This is not a Hollywood "feel good" movie. It centers around a daugher, played wonderfully by Laura Linney, who abuses alcohol while she bickers with her mother. Laura Linney is one of my favorite character actors and turns in yet another exceptional performance as a bitter and frustrated mother and daughter trying to cope with the aftermath of losing a husband and moving back in with her mother.

This is a "slice of life" movie where we get the opportunity to see characters evolve through their life experiences. We come to care about the people in this movie and see them make mistakes and sometimes learn from them.

If you these plot-centered movies such as "You Can Count on Me", you will enjoy this movie.

Good performances can't save this terrible script, larded with every cliche in the chick-flick book. Both main characters are deeply unsympathetic, and the scene where Laura Linney's character reminisces about sex with her dead husband in front of her teenage son -- which I think is supposed to be poignant -- is just horrifying.

Laura Linney and Gena Rowlands provide a well told tale of mother/daughter dynamics, and the failure of family. I have to admit Laura Linney is a surprise; she has always been believable, but this role is a bit different, and it works.

Gena Rowlands is the manipulative grandmother, who owns a bridal shoppe, and knows everyone in town. There is a very amusing scene where she manipulates a scruffy neighbor (Fred Ward) into shelling out a great deal of money for his pregnant daughter's wedding.

The score is very beautiful, reflecting loss (Linney is a widow) and hope for the future. Linney's son, Lonnie, misses his deceased father, and attempts to reach out to his grandmother. Linney finds herself trying to find a job in a new world (she has not worked in quite some time) She clearly loves her son, but has bought into her mother's negative comments.

This film is noteworthy because it is sensitive and realistic, while not overly negative. How does a widow survive her husband's suicide, her mother's controlling psychosis, her son's depression, and her own alcoholism?. A very timely movie worth watching. 10/10

Not a cheery film, but riveting. Rowlands and Linney are both brilliant, and Laura Linney is especially so. She equals or exceeds her performance in You Can Count On Me, and she should have won the oscar for that film going away. If Linney does not soon win an Academy Award, there is no justice. She is one of the best actors working today, ranking right up there with Meryl Streep. She is totally convincing and incredibly moving in this role; as Iris, playing once more against type. I stumbled on to this film on one of the Showtime channels late at night. I've seen no promotion for it, and I'm shocked that I haven't. In its way, and certainly in the Linney and Rowlands performances, it's as good as Dinner With Friends, which had its premiere on HBO earlier the same night. Dinner With Friends was promoted hugely. Wild Iris is equally rewarding. I can't imagine why the Showtime publicity engines have not been running overtime. I'd be very proud to have produced this film with these two principals.

This is a quiet film and many haven't even heard of it. Non the less, it's worth it's one and a half hours.

At first glance u might think it's a little "Hallmark", but trust me this is much more.

Kent Broadhurst has written a beautiful script and one can even think it was written for the actors playing in it.

This is the kind of film u see at home alone, or with someone u care about and someone u can show some feelings to.

If u allow it, this movie can bring some feelings out.

Laura Linney plays beautifully as she portrays a some what drunken single mom, with her dreams shattered as her husband takes his own life.

Emile Hirsch shines in the part as her teenage son. Brining his softly spoken being to the cast, he makes u want to stretch out a hand and help him in his struggles.

This is a film that leaves u with you're brain working, and that's how i like it.

A good movie with nice moments.

Henning - Norway!