Lovely & Amazing

Last updated
Lovely and Amazing
Lovely&Amazing.jpg
Original poster
Directed by Nicole Holofcener
Written byNicole Holofcener
Produced byAnthony Bregman
Ted Hope
Eric d'Arbeloff
Starring Brenda Blethyn
Catherine Keener
Emily Mortimer
Raven Goodwin
Jake Gyllenhaal
James LeGros
Dermot Mulroney
CinematographyHarlan Bosmajian
Edited byRobert Frazen
Music byCraig Richey
Production
companies
Good Machine
Blow Up Pictures
Distributed by Lions Gate Films
Roadside Attractions
Release dates
  • August 31, 2001 (2001-08-31)(Telluride Film Festival)
  • June 28, 2002 (2002-06-28)(limited)
  • August 2, 2002 (2002-08-02)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$250,000 [1]
Box office$4,695,781 [1]

Lovely and Amazing is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.

Contents

Plot

The story focuses on Jane Marks, her adult daughters Michelle and Elizabeth, and her pre-teen adopted African American daughter Annie, each of whom allows her personal insecurities to affect her life.

Jane, longing to look younger and thinner, opts for liposuction, with near tragic results. When Michelle's artistic talents fail to produce any income for her family, much to her husband Bill's dismay, she takes a job as a one-hour photo developer. There she finds herself falling for the attention of her teenaged co-worker Jordan. Aspiring actress Elizabeth, who bestows upon stray dogs the affection she finds difficult to offer her boyfriend Paul, questions her appeal when she's rejected for a role based on her looks. She seeks reassurance from film heartthrob Kevin McCabe.

Overweight Annie tries to fit in better with her white adopted family by having her hair straightened by black Big Sister volunteer Lorraine, who Jane hopes will put the young girl in touch with her heritage.

Сast

Production

The film debuted at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival. Prior to its initial limited release in New York City and Los Angeles, it was shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

In its widest release, the film played on only 175 screens in the US. It grossed $4,210,379 domestically and $485,402 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $4,695,781. [1]

Critical reception

Lovely & Amazing received a "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, reporting that 86% of critics gave the a film positive review, based on 123 reviews. [2] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 75 based on 31 reviews. [3]

In his review in The New York Times , Stephen Holden said, "As smart and observant as it is, Lovely and Amazing doesn't really go anywhere. Ms. Holofcener's sharp, witty dialogue shows an ear acutely tuned to the edgy, competitive nuances of contemporary banter, and the movie expertly evokes the rivalry percolating just below the surface of the Markses' relationships. But once family members have weathered their personal crises, little seems to have changed." [4]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "Here is a movie that knows its women, listens to them, doesn't give them a pass, allows them to be real: It's a rebuke to the shallow Ya-Ya Sisterhood ." [5]

In Variety , Todd McCarthy said, "Engaging, intermittently insightful but too glib to wring full value out of its subject matter, this brightly performed study of an extended family of females has enough going for it to quickly graduate from the fest circuit to a respectable career in specialized release . . . [it] evinces keen antenna for (mostly) female foibles, a good ear for dialogue, talent for directing thesps and a clean, unfussy visual style." [6]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "Nicole Holofcener throws a bunch of issues on the table and takes time to linger over them, without worrying much about where her story's going or even if she has one. The result is a gutsy little picture and a nice slice of life." [7]

In Rolling Stone , Peter Travers opined, "In this painfully funny and touching look at the vanities and insecurities that a mother can pass on to her daughters in the name of love, writer-director Nicole Holofcener does a chick flick right . . . Holofcener's film feels untidily honest. It's true to life, not to the Hollywood version." [8]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said, "Like the best of personal, independent cinema . . . it is both marvelously observed and completely individual. There is no film like this film, and that is something you don't hear every day . . . it's so accurate about how people attempt meaningful emotional connections in an uncaring world of self-involvement, obtuseness and free-floating insecurity that it ought to be put in a time capsule." [9]

Awards and nominations

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>I Am Sam</i> 2001 American drama film by Jessie Nelson

I Am Sam is a 2001 American drama film co-written and directed by Jessie Nelson. It stars Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianne Wiest, Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Richard Schiff, Loretta Devine and Laura Dern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances McDormand</span> American actress and producer

Frances Louise McDormand is an American actress and producer. In a career spanning over four decades, she has gained acclaim for her roles in small-budget independent films. McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and one Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". Additionally, she has received three BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards. McDormand's worldwide box office gross exceeds $2.2 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Morton</span> British actress and director (born 1977)

Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress and director. She is known for her work in independent film with dark and tragic themes, in particular period dramas and is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Blethyn</span> British actress (born 1946)

Brenda Blethyn is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmys. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Mortimer</span> British actress (born 1971)

Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer is a British actress and filmmaker. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Lovely and Amazing. She is also known for playing Mackenzie McHale in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). She created and wrote the series Doll & Em (2014–2015) and wrote and directed the miniseries The Pursuit of Love (2021), the latter of which earned her a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Williams (actress)</span> American actress

Michelle Ingrid Williams is an American actress. Known primarily for starring in small-scale independent films with dark or tragic themes, she has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for five Academy Awards and a Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Keener</span> American actress (born 1959)

Catherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Being John Malkovich (1999) and for her portrayal of author Harper Lee in Capote (2005).

<i>Georgia</i> (1995 film) 1995 film by Ulu Grosbard

Georgia is a 1995 American independent film directed by Ulu Grosbard. It follows a barroom punk singer who has a complicated relationship with her older sister.

<i>Ruby in Paradise</i> 1993 film

Ruby in Paradise is a 1993 film written and directed by Victor Nunez, starring Ashley Judd, Todd Field, Bentley Mitchum, Allison Dean, and Dorothy Lyman. An homage to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, the film is a character study about a young woman who escapes her small town in Tennessee for a new life in coastal Florida. The film marks Judd’s first starring role.

<i>Friends with Money</i> 2006 comedy-drama film

Friends with Money is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. It opened the 2006 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2006, and went into limited release in North America on April 7, 2006.

<i>Walking and Talking</i> 1996 French film

Walking and Talking is a 1996 independent film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener and starring Catherine Keener, Anne Heche, Todd Field, Liev Schreiber and Kevin Corrigan.

Nicole Holofcener is an American film and television director and screenwriter. She has directed seven feature films, including Walking and Talking, Friends with Money and Enough Said, as well as various television series. Along with Jeff Whitty, Holofcener received a 2019 Academy Award nomination for Adapted Screenplay, a BAFTA nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018).

<i>Nine Lives</i> (2005 film) 2005 American film

Nine Lives is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Rodrigo García. The screenplay, an example of hyperlink cinema, relates nine short, loosely intertwined tales with nine different women at their cores. Their themes include parent-child relationships, fractured love, adultery, illness, and death. Similar to García's previous work, Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, it is a series of overlapping vignettes, each one running about the same length and told in a single, unbroken take, featuring an ensemble cast.

The 7th Golden Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2002, were presented by the International Press Academy on January 12, 2003.

<i>Trucker</i> (film) 2008 American film

Trucker is a 2008 independent drama film by Plum Pictures written and directed by James Mottern, and produced by Scott Hanson, Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray and Daniela Taplin Lundberg. It stars Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion and Benjamin Bratt.

<i>Rabbit Hole</i> (2010 film) 2010 film directed by John Cameron Mitchell

Rabbit Hole is a 2010 American drama film directed by John Cameron Mitchell and written by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on his 2006 play of the same name. The film stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a grieving couple coping with the death of their four-year-old son. It also stars Dianne Wiest, Tammy Blanchard, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Tenney, Sandra Oh and Miles Teller in his film debut.

<i>Please Give</i> 2010 film by Nicole Holofcener

Please Give is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. It stars Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, and Sarah Steele. It revolves around married antique-dealers butting heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.

Raven Shamira Goodwin is an American actress. She made her debut with the comedy film Lovely & Amazing (2001), which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and next received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role in the drama film The Station Agent. She made her shift to television roles starring in the Nickelodeon comedy series Just Jordan (2007–2008).

<i>Enough Said</i> 2013 American romantic comedy-drama film by Nicole Holofcener

Enough Said is a 2013 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. The film stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette and Ben Falcone. Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a divorced masseuse who begins a relationship with Albert (Gandolfini), only to discover that he is the former husband of her client and friend Marianne (Keener).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Mortimer filmography</span>

Emily Mortimer is an English-American actress. She gained prominence with her performance in Nicole Holofcener's Lovely & Amazing (2001), which won her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. She is also known for her voice performance in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, and for her roles in Match Point (2005), The Pink Panther (2006), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Shutter Island (2010), and Mary Poppins Returns (2018). In television, she starred as Mackenzie McHale on HBO's The Newsroom (2012–2014), and marked her directorial debut with the miniseries The Pursuit of Love (2021). She also starred alongside Bruce Willis in The Kid in 2000.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lovely & Amazing at TheNumbers.com". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
  2. ↑ "Lovely & Amazing Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  3. ↑ Lovely & Amazing. Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
  4. ↑ Holden, Stephen (June 28, 2002). "FILM REVIEW; Outward Appearances Fuel Inner Neuroses". The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  5. ↑ Ebert, Roger (July 19, 2002). "Lovely & Amazing". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  6. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (2001-09-05). "Lovely & Amazing". Variety. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
  7. ↑ LaSalle, Mick (July 19, 2002). "Characters command 'Lovely & Amazing' / Viewers pulled right into three sisters' dramas". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  8. ↑ Travers, Peter (July 18, 2002). "Lovely and Amazing". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved 2012-11-13.
  9. ↑ Turan, Kenneth (June 28, 2002). "'Lovely & Amazing' Looks at the Nuances of Modern Life". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2002. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.