Stars: Olympia Dukakis, Kristen Stewart, Meg Ryan, Adam Brody

Director: Jon Kasdan

Summary: IN THE LAND OF WOMEN is a surprisingly sombre yet funny coming-of-age tale from director Jon Kasdan, and stars Adam Brody in a role not too different from his beloved Seth Cohen on the night-time teen soap THE O.C. Brody, playing a character his own age, breezily inhabits Carter, a loveable but somewhat directionless screenwriter (if you count soft-core porn films) who is dumped by his beautiful but shallow starlet girlfriend Sofia at the start of the film. In crisis mode, he packs up and heads to the Detroit suburb where his senile grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) lives, in an attempt to help her out and get some perspective. While desperately trying to make sense of his grandmother's incoherent ramblings, Carter slaves away at a long-coming screenplay and creates confusing friendships with the mother (Meg Ryan) and daughter (Kristen Stewart) next door.<BR>While the film sometimes seems to be grasping for something it can't quite find, it is entertaining throughout, especially for fans of Brody. Thanks to some clever dialogue, quirky characters, and Brody's oddball line delivery, IN THE LAND OF WOMEN manages to get more than a few laughs. That said, the film also deals with serious issues like sickness and death in a light-hearted way. Ryan and Stewart both add depth to what could be one-dimensional characters, and while Brody's performance doesn't feel like much of a stretch, it's nice to see the actor moving towards some slightly more adult material. Kasdan packs the film to the brim with indie pop songs, providing a hip soundtrack for a story that feels contemporary by refusing to fit the traditional romantic-comedy mould.

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Jon Kasdan's directorial debut, In the Land of Women, is a touching romantic comedy portraying the love quandaries of a hip, Hollywood twenty-something to show how his fast-paced life as a porn screenwriter encourages the jaded attitude at the root of his angst. Carter Webb (Adam Brody) hangs out in a recognisable Los Feliz cafe, where in the opening scene he is dumped by his sultry Gap-model girlfriend. In hopes of salvaging his last ounce of creativity to pen a real story, Carter escapes to peaceful, suburban Michigan to care for his grandmother, Phyllis (Olympia Dukakis). Phyllis' death obsession, however, drives him outdoors, where he befriends neighbour Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan) and her two daughters, Lucy (Kristen Stewart) and Paige (Mackenzie Vega). Bonding with both the more mature Sarah, sick with breast cancer, and the discombobulated teen Lucy, Carter redefines love with his new understanding of what it means to think about things other than one's self.

Bright, crisp colours and fairly natural lighting lends the film a contemporary feel, and the script is surprisingly unsentimental. Ryan's performance--less saccharine than some previous--along with Brody's wry character and Dukakis as a bitter dying woman, help the film to avoid corny melodrama so common to the genre. Unfortunately, the ending is too neatly tied up, but not enough to destroy what emotional poignancy the film has generated. Ultimately a critique of the vacant, superficial lifestyle that a life in Hollywood perpetuates, In the Land of Women leaves one wondering whether Kasdan's attraction to the script wasn't based on his own Los Angeles experiences. -—Trinie Dalton

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	2007
Release Date:	March 31, 2008
Runtime:	94 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 073676
Keywords:	Land, Women, English, Comedy, Romantic, Drama
Genre:	Drama