She plays Helen, who has just lost her job and is heading home to her loser boyfriend (John Lynch). She barely misses catching a subway train, and begins to imagine what her life would have been like had she caught the train. In this second life, she gets home early and walks in her boyfriend having sex with the Queen Bitch of the World, Jeanne Tripplehorn. As she drowns her sorrows at the local pub, she runs into a man she met on the train (John Hannah, the gay guy who didn't die in Four Weddings and a Funeral). Her parallel lives proceed from there, until a needlessly cruel twist at the end.
I adored John Hannah in this movie -- he was like THE perfect man, always knowing the right thing to say, always with a witty remark ready, sporting a darling (if often incomprehensible) Scottish accent, and looking adorably rumpled. In fact, one of my complaints about the movie was how unrelentingly perfect he was -- even his "deep dark secret" never carried any real sense of menace -- but given the ending, his character actually makes sense. Lynch and Tripplehorn, on the other hand, are totally hateful characters -- excuse me, caricatures -- and the less said about them, the better.
I was a little disappointed in the movie, only because I had such high hopes for the concept, which is something I find myself doing a lot (imagining how things might have been different if I'd made it through that red light, etc.). It was just too fluffy for me, and while it had several funny lines, they didn't seem too tied together. Also, it proved conclusively that Monty Python skits are never, ever funny when recited by someone not in Monty Python, even if he is an authentic Brit. I guess you could do worse at a night out at the movies... but it wouldn't lose anything by waiting for the video release.
Finally, I just have to repeat this quote from CNN reviewer Paul Tartara's review of The Object of My Affection, because I'll probably use it at some point, and I want to make sure it's credited in case I forget at such time as I see a movie worthy of it:
"It's not offensive, mind you, but if that's all you need to know to sit through a movie, you're partially responsible for me having to sit through this one, and I don't like you."
Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search