Word: mias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Reported by Sandra Burton/Hong Kong, Dean Fischer/Washington, Jaime A. FlorCruz and Mia Turner/Beijing and Nelly Sindayen/Manila
...monochromatic texture of the rest of the movie--of an apparently happy, eminently normal family gathered together for a birthday party. The story then cuts to 20 years later, with the annual Thanksgiving reunion with the folks (Roy Scheider and Blythe Danner). This year, all four children show up: Mia (Julianne Moore), Jake (Michael Vartan), Leigh (Laurel Holloman), and, somewhat unexpectedly, the long-absent Warren (Noah Wyle). Significant others are in attendance: Mia's boyfriend, Elliot (Brian Kerwin); Jake's girlfriend, Margaret (Hope Davis); and, flitting in and out of the family picture, past and present, Warren's ex-girlfriend...
With all this pairing off, one would expect a healthy dose of sex--which is duly provided, especially generously at the beginning. But as this initial burst of heat tapers off, it becomes increasingly obvious that, to put it tactfully, warmth is not the chief attribute of this household. Mia and Warren, who emerge as the two central figures of this menage, both evidently bear a deep-rooted hostility toward their father, thought various expressed: Mia seethes with a bitterness that continually cracks through the surface, while Warren's anger, being mixed with personal guilt, is internalized for most...
...never really figure out Mia, despite her witchin' and bitchin' and eventual tearful communion with a former kindergarten classmate (James LeGros, in a quirky if slender role) over a book whose title, "The Scream of Rabbits," might just as well have replaced the equally incomprehensible "Myth of Fingerprints." No less unfathomable is Scheider's stony-faced patriarch, who offers no clue to any of his actions or offenses against his children. Danner gets next to nothing to do as the sensible, yet oddly passive mother; and Kerwin's Elliot, a psychotherapist with no apparent therapeutic skills, remains a mere cipher...
...good acting to be seen here. Wyle (who had bit parts in movies before stepping onto the set of "ER") acquits himself well as the soul-searching Warren. There's a depth and intelligence in his gaze that translates across both the big and small screen. Moore, as Mia, is convincingly abrasive and acerbic, even though the source of her anger remains a mystery. Hope Davis' Margaret brings a refreshingly clear-eyed, unselfconscious good humor that helps brighten the glumness of her surroundings, while Scheider's craggy Lincoln-like profile retains an impassive air that makes his rare moments...