Something to Talk About

Grace Bichon (Julia Roberts) seems to have a happy life with husband Eddie (Dennis Quaid) and daughter Caroline. She dutifully does work with the other wives in the Charity League and runs her father's horse stable. Then she catches Eddie with his mistress on the streets. She leaves with her daughter to stay with her father Wyly King (Robert Duvall), mother Georgia (Gena Rowlands), and sister Emma Rae King (Kyra Sedgwick). There is a horse jumping Grand Prix coming up. As the couple toys with divorce, Grace is pursued by a suitor. Her parents push her to stay in her marriage and her sister joins her in anger.

How one takes this movie depends on how one views cheating. The standard female empowerment would require the wife to overcome the cheating husband and find a new man or find her inner self. This one takes a different tact and it could annoy some people. The actors are solid. Their rom-com personna may not fit the more complicated take on cheating.

1st watched 1/18/2003 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Lasse Hallstrom): Well-played drama about being in love, making mistakes, and trying to stay in love. This is a heart-breaking movie to watch because it is so much like real life and it is played out so well by those involved. The Direction by Hallstrom is magnificent because of the way he lets the story do the talking and doesn't hurry us to conclusions. Basically, this is a story about a woman(Julia Roberts) who finds out that her husband(Dennis Quaid) is cheating on her and then everything gets mixed up from this point on. There are many other relationships that are also very vital to the story just like they would be in real life. There are parents(who struggle with some of the same things), there is a sister(who tries to lend a helping hand) and there is a child in the middle of everything just trying to survive. By the end, we believe that everything is going to be all right but it is very obvious that much damage has been done. Roberts is superb as usual and everyone plays out their parts very believably. This is one of those movies that is one of a kind, but not one you'd want to watch very often for it hits deep within our souls(especially those who have gone thru similar experiences) and therefore I think it failed when released because the exec's didn't know how to sell it to make money but none-the-less it is a classic in my book on relationships. The choice of the title also didn't make sense because the song really has nothing to do with the movie. Again, I think this was a marketing mistake and not the filmmakers.

This is a very clever movie, made with serious intentions, coming out with both a funny and serious side to it. I am talk about the Julia Roberts drama, ‘Something to talk about'. I have seen many movies that look into the issues concerning relationships and infidelity, such as 2002's, ‘unfaithful'. Yet this film looks at a different side of the problems that can hurt a relationship and also shows that one couples problems can be the ‘talk' of the town.

Grace Bichon has a picture perfect life. She helps manage her father's riding-stable and has a great husband and little daughter. That is until she discovers that her husband Eddie is deceiving her with another woman. After confronting him in the middle of the night on the streets of their small home town, she decides to stay at her sister Emma Rae's house for a while, to make up her mind. Breaking out of her everyday life, she starts to question the authority of everyone, especially her father's, thus causing a stir in her parent's marriage, too.

What a great story this film has. I love the way that the audience get the chance to experience what a place it is that poor Grace has to live. It also shows that being part of a relationship is not an easy thing. Another clever addition to the story is the use of gossip, which is perfectly incorporated and performed by the movie's actors. You really believe that this town's people want to know what is going on in the lives of the ‘Bichon family' and that is ultimately why it was called ‘Something to talk about'. This all being said, the film has many characters that I did not like, which is credit to the film's story, allowing me to actually like it. The screenwriter for ‘Something to talk about', is Callie Khouri, who did a film last year, that I want to see, called ‘Devine secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood'. Callie wrote a most enjoyable script from where I see it.

There are flawless roles from all involved in the movie. This movie's main star is a gal I like, that being Julia Roberts. I remember reading that someone said Robert's needed to do this movie, to save her career from going down the wrong path. Well she shone in this most likeable of roles. I love the way that her character goes through so many emotions, especially the hot-headed temperament, but for good reason. I had to laugh when Grace is so abrupt, asking all her friends at a meeting, has anyone and everyone in the town been sleeping with her husband. The next line is priceless.

The men in Grace's life are not so great. Husband Eddie (Dennis Quaid) is in a most uncomfortable of situations, which he put himself in. Eddie is upstaged by Grace's sister, Emma Rae (Kyra Sedgwick), who brings Eddie to his knees. Then add in the scene when Grace tries to get revenge on her husband. It is a movie that shows Eddie has done many things wrong. What Grace does might seem a little extreme, but I have no doubt that hurt people will go to such lengths to feel better about themselves and their situation. Grace's father, Wyly King (Robert Duvall) is a man who cares not so much for his family, but more about the disgrace one of his daughter's will bring to the family name, reputation and business. I was shocked when he blurts out ‘All of our friends complain about how their kids grow up and run off and they never hear from them anymore. Why the hell can't that happen to us?'

Director Lasse Hallstrom did a good job with this movie. He certainly seemed fascinated in making a movie which shows how dysfunctional a family really can be, and on more than one level in this film. There was also one name that came up as a bit of a surprise to me in the casting credits, that being Goldie Hawn. She was executive producer of the film, and in some way, you can feel the comedic touch she brought to the film.

‘Something to talk about' hit home personally for me, as I have been part of a family break up, via one parent being unfaithful to the other. It is very hard for kids to understand what is going on when parent's relationships are disintegrating right in front of them. I have resigned to the fact my parents will never be back together again, but this film shows that not all relationships are a lost cause as I am sure they are not. Julia Robert's role in the film was so compelling from where I see it, as she was well within her rights to be as upset as she was. Her role justifies to me, why she is a star in Hollywood today. I guess the only downer for me in this film was the language, which I found just a little slack and disturbing. Roger Ebert said in his review of the film: ‘that ‘Something to talk about' is the kind of film where you start out wondering how all these people are related, and end up knowing all to well'. I could not agree more, but I guess that is what you get when people start to gossip and talk!

CMRS gives ‘Something to talk about': 4 (Very Good Film)

Sterling cast, featuring not only Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid but also Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands and Kyra Sedgwick, in a handsomely-made but rather ordinary, women's TV-type light drama (with barbed language added). Roberts plays harried working mom down South who discovers husband Quaid has been unfaithful; they fight, discuss divorce, fight some more, while Roberts gets advice from her well-to-do parents (they ponder the situation when the answers should be obvious). Pleasant cast nearly masks the fact this is completely rote material (with Sedgwick as Roberts' p.o.'ed sister who gets in the proverbial crotch kick). Pokey, overly-familiar, overlong film with too few laughs and too much inane banter. Photographed by the famous Sven Nykvist, who indeed gives the picture a rich, glossy look. ** from ****

This time it is the man who is unfaithful but the ending is different. When we watched "A Walk on The Moon", "Unfaithful" and "The Bridges of Madison County" we saw three married women have torrid affairs but who were portrayed as sympathetic characters. They ended up staying with their husbands (though the husband in "Unfaithful" probably ended up in prison) while still in love with the men with whom they committed adultery. The husbands who were aware of their wives unfaithfulness, and the one who didn't, all opted to "stand by their women" and were portrayed as being at fault by virtue of working too hard and not paying enough attention to the wives.

But here the shoe is on the other foot. The husband is the one who strays and he is portrayed as being at fault, even though his wife has become distant and unresponsive to him. The double standard is obvious. Kyra Sedgwick was by far the most enjoyable character in the film. She was outstanding as the protective sister of betrayed Julia Roberts. The b*ll kicking scene is painful, but funny. I really liked her and will be looking for more of her work in the future.

The setting is a horse farm that is ruled over by the patriarch played by Robert Duvall. Grace is his assistant manager and carries much of the load. Her husband (Dennis Quaid) is caught cheating on her and she moves out of their bedroom to her sisters apartment. Though her husband is truly repentant and struggles to get her back she is unrelenting and eventually returns to school and we are left wondering if there is ever a reunion. I enjoyed the movie but was struck by the difference in the treatment of male infidelity versus that of the female. I give it a 7/10.