(Rated R, 110 mins.)
This is the kind of movie that leaves you thinking about empty marriages, empty souls and where are minds (and bodies) may wander. And, because of it’s soap opera twist, definitely leaves you with that “tune in tomorrow” feeling. Renee Zellweger stars as small town waitress Betty Sizemore who adores and wants soap opera doctor David Ravell (Greg Kinnear). And, who wouldn’t. She’s married to a local car salesman (Aaron Eckhart) in a loveless marriage. When this little nobody Betty, leaves the state of Kansas to enter fantasy world, (over the top Dorothy in “Wizard of Oz), because her husband was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong, she finds all kinds of goodies at the “end of the rainbow”. Her husband’s enemies (Chris Rock and Morgan Freeman) are on her tail and steal the show with their father/son roles of the guys wanting the heroine in the trunk. Zellweger has a charm similar to her “Jerry Maguire” innocence and then turns into the nut case/car chase typecast of “Me, Myself and Irene. But, don’t expect a pure comedy as the lines of reality and sweet fantasy begin to blur in the hands of director Neil LaBute (“In The Company of Men” and “Friends & Neighbors”) style.
