By Katherine Doublet
In the Land of Women is far from the best love story ever told, but this romantic drama/comedy wasn’t a total disaster for first time writer-director Jonathon Kasdan or Warner Brothers to take on. Adam Brody’s character Carter Webb doesn’t drift far from his well-known role of Seth Cohen from the cancelled prime-time soap opera The O.C. Similar to the hit show, finding and maintaining love is a main priority for Carter – everything else in life is just frivolous details.
So when his girlfriend, Sofia, chooses her glamorous celebrity lifestyle over him, his whole twenty-something life falls apart. His career as a soft-core porn writer begins to disintegrate and news from his mother that his grandmother Phyllis (Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis) is gravely ill didn’t make the situation any better. Carter quickly takes a flight out of Los Angeles to the suburbs of Michigan to nurse his grandmother, but the decision to do so is a bit more personal and selfish since he really just wants to run away from it all.
Not too long after he has settled into his new home, Carter becomes acquainted with Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan), the stay-at-home-mother of two kids who live across the street. Without even knowing one another, they frequently and quickly jump into deep conversations about their various problems and love lives, and most importantly, Sarah’s new battle with breast cancer. Eventually Sarah bribes her daughter Lucy (Kristen Stewart) to befriend Carter with a curfew extension and from there the audience undergoes only a small amount of torture with more deep conversations that analyze life. The unexpected twist and turns, whether pleased about them or not, broadens the script which opens up more story lines and possibilities.
Even though Brody has yet to totally step away from his comfort zone to take on more challenging roles, his chemistry between the characters, especially Ryan and Dukakis, was evident and at times touching during the 97-minute chick flick. While the casting was seriously considered, dragged out and unrealistic scenes just to introduce other characters and play soundtrack songs were not.
Tellingly, In the Land of Women barely made it into the top ten at the box office on it’s opening weekend. It landed itself in eighth place, only making about $4,915,000 behind four movies that have already been in the box office for at least one week – Fracture, Vacancy, and Hot Fuzz.
GRADE: B-
