Small movie with a large central performance from Janet McTeer, a British actress putting on a thick white-trashy Southern accent, as a lusty, gusty single mom, four times married, who drags her twelve-year-old daughter (Kimberly J. Brown) from West Virginia to Southern California for their latest fresh start. Angela Shelton's semi-autobiographical screenplay (co-written with director, and supporting player, Gavin O'Connor) has frequent rings of truth to it: e.g., Mom giving daughter kissing lessons on an apple. And Jay O. Sanders, so often a big dope or big jerk, has a couple of warmly human moments, teaching the girl about Shakespearean meter in preparation for the school play, and recollecting the death of his wife. The sum of the parts, however, never outgrows the aura of smallness. (1999) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.