In Her Shoes (2005)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"In Her Shoes" is about two sisters, one looking for stability in her life and the other for passion. Maggie, played by Cameron Diaz (Vanilla Sky), the consummate party girl, clashes with her head-on-straight sister, Rose, played by Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), as Maggie discovers she has a grandmother, played by Shirley McClain (Guarding Tess), she assumed was dead since she and her sister were little. Both girls are haunted by the death of their mother who suffered from mental illness. Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz totally make this picture worth watching and watching close. Both women give such hard hitting, jaw dropping performances, I'm certain they'll be nominated side-by-side at the coming Oscars®. Diaz's performance had no many unspoken nuances, she has finally earned my total respect as a legitimate and talented actress, as long as she stays away from "Charlie's Angles 3: Full of S**t." Collette has impressed me since "Murial's Wedding," so it was no surprise to see how good she was in this one. She also gained weight, again, for her role to better fit her character. I love it when actors do that, especially actresses. It shows their devotion to their craft, unlike any sacrifice JLO would make for a role, which is nothing. Shirley McClain is awesome as usually. She's a time tested proven heavy hitter also, AND she had Olympia Dukakis as a reflection character to play most of her scenes with. The two have been across from each other plenty of times, so there was an instant chemistry on their end. The rest of the supporting cast was perfect. Director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) is show his greatest strength in his craft, the ability to create chemistry within his cast. If he can get an Oscar powered performance from Cameron Diaz, he has to be good at something as a director. Hanson went for this whole "shoes" motif that sat well. Each character had some sort of reference to shoes in some other way than talking about just shoes. It was cool. This is also a credit to writer Susannah Grant (28 Days, Erin Brokovich), who adapted this work from the novel by Jennifer Weiner. The adapted screenplay is the movie's other great feature. The material was solid with plenty of inner conflict for each character to be able to examine where each line is coming from. Each character had room for growth, AND the writer and Hanson trusted their audience to find the nuances from the performances and keep up with the development of each character, plot and handful of subplots. I don't get very choked up at movies anymore, but I must admit, this one had me worked over several times. There were a couple of predictable subplot points, but a handful of cliches were avoided, which pleased me greatly. I think if you simply like good acting and a nice story about family you hate but just can't give up, you should REALLY like "In Her Shoes." I highly suggest seeing it; however, I think it will play just as good on the small screen as it does in cinemas. Waiting for the DVD wouldn't be a bad thing. If you ARE into keeping up with Oscar® nominations and awards, I'd see this in the cinemas so you're not in the dark about these super fine performances and a super well crafted screenplay. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is the first movie to bear two contending Academy Award® nominees for Best Actress in my book for the coming year.