Wild Iris

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.

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

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.

Gena Rowlands and Laura Linney turn in outstanding performances in this dark tale of mother-daughter love and hate. Built around small-town life, suicide, and failure, this story takes a few dark turns before finding the light. Linney is outstanding as the lost daughter who can't get her life back after her husband commits suicide. Gena Rowlands is (as always) excellent as the domineering mother who seems to thrive on her daughter's failures. Superior TV movie with good work from Fred Ward and Emile Hirsch as the boy who takes a drastic step to save all their lives.

Fine movie about a mother-daughter relationship with Laura Linney and Gena Rowlands in the leading roles. Both actresses give an excellent performance. The story is nothing special but it's acceptable. We also see Emile Hirsch (the guy from "The Girl Next Door" and "Imaginary Heroes") as the son of Laura Linney. This is one of his first important roles and he gives a nice performance.

This is a movie from the same director as "Fort Apache the Bronx" with Paul Newman and Pam Grier ("Jackie Brown") in the leading roles. "Wild Iris" is of course something completely different but in general it is a good movie, nothing exceptional but it is entertaining and the acting performances are good.