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In the Land of Women

A tidy suburban melodrama

By TOM MEEK | April 18, 2007

2.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for In the Land of Women.

If Mrs. Robinson had been played by Martha Stewart and had suffered breast cancer, The Graduate might well have played out like Jon Kasdan’s suburban melodrama, in which well-groomed appearances hide ugly realities. Carter (Adam Brody), a LA softcore screenwriter just dumped by his starlet girlfriend, heads to Michigan to care for his grandmother (a brassy Olympia Dukakis). He also seeks solace and time to write his novel. Across the street, the Hardwickes are a bruised lot. Mom (Meg Ryan) feels she’s losing touch with her family as she’s blindsided by a malignant lump; oldest daughter Lucy (Kristen Stewart) resents mom’s passivity about dad’s recent affair. Carter steps in and soon has plenty of material for his work-in-progress. The fine cast (especially Makenzie Vega as the younger sister) and quirky ambiance go a long way, but Kasdan (brother of Jake, son of Lawrence), in his debut feature, settles for a Martha-tidy ending.

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