Sisters Maggie (a scantily-clad Cameron Diaz) and Rose (Toni Collette who, the extras reveal, piled on 25lbs for the role) couldn’t be more different. One’s an illiterate boozy tramp, the other an uptight lawyer with a closet full of heels. When Maggie moves in on Rose’s new man, their at-best-combustible relationship implodes and the former heads to Florida in search of their estranged grandma Ella (Shirley MacLaine).
With a sophisticated script and pitch-perfect performances all round, Curtis Hanson crafts a cockle-warming chick-flick that proves blubfests and female empowerment needn’t be anathema to entertainment, as Maggie mellows and Rose blooms.
DVD Extras:
DVD-wise, it’s a case of less being more, with Hanson proving more informative on the concise Making Of than most yak-tracks, while the other featurettes reveal a fine taste for the offbeat, focusing on the film’s elderly extras and on Hamlet, Collette’s canine co-star.






