Themes: Eccentric Families, Crumbling Marriages, Date from Hell
Main Cast: Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands, Kyra Sedgwick
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The feminist outrage of Thelma & Louise (1991) screenwriter Callie Khouri blended superbly with director Lasse Hallstrom's predilection for stories about idiosyncratic families in this effective comedy-drama. Julia Roberts stars as Grace King Bichon, a prim small-town wife who is incensed when she learns that her husband Eddie Bichon (Dennis Quaid) is having an affair, and that it's not his first dalliance. Grace embarrasses her husband publicly -- then moves in with her wise-mouthed little sister Emma Rae (the scene-stealing Kyra Sedgwick). Grace becomes even angrier when her mother Georgia (Gena Rowlands) and wealthy father, horse breeder Wyly King (Robert Duvall), side with Eddie in the conflict, fearing the small-town gossip that's sure to swirl around their daughter's marital woes. However, when Georgia finds that Wyly has been a long-term philanderer as well, she kicks him out of his palatial home, embroiling the entire King family in a war between the sexes. Something to Talk About went through several title changes, variously being named "Game of Love" and "Grace Under Pressure" before producers settled on the title of the popular Bonnie Raitt song. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Writer Callie Khouri's follow-up to the celebrated Thelma and Louise is a well-made exercise in female empowerment that comes to a somewhat unpersuasive conclusion. Grace Bichon's (Julia Roberts) discovery of her husband Eddie's (Dennis Quaid) philandering, an open secret to everyone in her South Carolina town, is the trigger of the story. While she doesn't hesitate to get some well-earned payback, she also engages in marathon venting, releasing years of frustration over the ambitions she had suppressed for her marriage. The script is often funny, à la Thelma and Louise, and Kyra Sedgewick, as Emma Rae Grace's cynical love-singed younger sister has some of the sharpest lines, but much of the more broad and generic humor seems to have cribbed from the Southern-Gothic playbook. The ending is also unsatisfying since it's difficult to believe in the kind of empowerment fantasy Khouri is floating for Grace, who has been shown to be rooted in the horse country she seems to want to escape. The film boasts an exceptional cast, unusual in featuring five strong leads, and in some ways, the chastened Robet Duvall and the explosive Gena Rowlands steal the film. Legendary Bergman cinematographer Sven Nykvist also adds to the quality of this interesting film. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Brett Cullen - Jamie Johnson; Haley Aull - Caroline; Terrence Currier - Dr. Frank Lewis; J. Don Ferguson - Announcer; Rhoda Griffis - Edna; Mary Nell Santacroce - Mrs Pinkerton; Anne Shropshire - Aunt Rae; Libby Whittemore - Nadine; Deborah Hobart - Lorene Tuttle; Rebecca Koon - Babaranelle; Helen Baldwin - Mary Jane; Amy Parrish - Lucy; Muse Watson - Hank Corrigan; Shannon Eubanks - Jessie
Credit
Marion Dougherty - Casting, William S. Beasley - Co-producer, Aggie Guerard Rodgers - Costume Designer, Stephen P. Dunn - First Assistant Director, Lasse Hallström - Director, Mia Goldman - Editor, Goldie Hawn - Executive Producer, Hans Zimmer - Composer (Music Score), Mel Bourne - Production Designer, Sven Nykvist - Cinematographer, Anthea Sylbert - Producer, Paula Weinstein - Producer, Roberta J. Holinko - Set Designer, Peter Kurland - Sound/Sound Designer, Callie Khouri - Screenwriter
Grace (Roberts) discovers that her husband Eddie (Quaid) is having an affair with another woman. To her surprise, she also discovers that people around her advise her to forgive and forget instead of making an issue out of it. Her father owns a hunter/jumperhorse farm and thinks that the whole family should instead concentrate on an upcoming competition.
