A little girl, traumatized by her mother's death, comes out of her shell to nudge her father and their black housekeeper (jazz lovers both) into romance. The writer-director, Jessie Nelson, does a lot of nudging also, making double sure we know precisely how we're supposed to feel about everything and …
Queasy-making entertainment. And not only, or even largely, because of the jiggly, jostly, zoomy, freeze-frame-y camerawork under director Jessie Nelson. No: Sean Penn's impression of a mental defective, complete with a new whisk-broom haircut to add to his tonsorial portfolio, no doubt offers many rewards, not the least of which …
No you won’t. From Jessie Nelson, the man who brought us Stepmom, I Am Sam, and Fred Claus...need I go on? Staler than year-old rum cake and louder than June Squbb’s holiday sweater, Hollywood yet again ushers in the Christmas season with a dysfunctional family racing to get it together …