Mia Farrow has more trouble on Christmas Eve than Bruce Willis in a "Die
Hard" flick in this ruthless sick joke of a movie from longtime
collaborators, Craig Lucas and Norman Rene ("Longtime Companion," "Prelude
to a Kiss".) She plays a happy homemaker suddenly sent on an oddball odyssey
across America after an unexpected twist of fate one Christmas Eve. Among
those she encounters are Scott Glenn and Mary-Louise Parker as a
physiotherapist and his paraplegic, deaf-mute wife (they're so lovingly
supportive, they could be the poster couple for the differently abled);
Eileen Brennan as a nun who runs a homeless shelter; and Giancarlo Esposito
as a game-show host. The movie itself is pretty reckless, careening abruptly
from one tone to another. By the final third, it's floundering, having worn
out itself and its audience. But the fine cast holds it together. Farrow is
especially good - as a ditz-survivalist in a flannel nightie), she shows an
unexpected resilience as well an expert comic timing. David Lynch would
recognize the people she meets; oddly enough, so would Norman Rockwell.
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