In Her Shoes: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

The new Curtis Hanson movie, "In Her Shoes," begins with a lingering close-up of high-heeled shoes, the likes of which boast the sort of classic lines and architecture that would make any "Sex and the City" girl fall flat on her Manolos.

These pumps aren't something you’d find in the bargain bin at Payless. Rather, they’re something that would glimmer smartly under a spotlight at, say, Jimmy Choo.

Lovingly photographed in such a way that smacks of fetish, these shoes--the price of which would surpass some country’s gross national product--are more trouble than they appear, particularly since in them are feet that belong to a person whose careless, promiscuous life has been filled with its share of self-induced bunions.

That person is Maggie Feller (Cameron Diaz), a loose-living, free-wheeling thief with a killer bod and an impossibly wide smile whose skills in attracting the opposite sex prove every bit as formidable as her sister’s skills in earning a living.

Said sister is Rose (Toni Collette), up-and-coming lawyer at a top Philadelphia firm, who is so startled when she is wooed into bed by her attractive boss (Richard Burgi) that she pulls out her digital camera while he sleeps to take photos of him for proof.

Why the proof? Let's call it what it is--low self-esteem, which consumes Rose to the point of pushing away potential suitors such as fellow lawyer Simon (Mark Feuerstein), a nice guy who quietly adores her.

Unlike her tall, toned sister, on whom clothes, hair and makeup seem so natural, Rubenesque Rose has only ever been able to turn to shoes for a good fit. They never have let her down, which she can’t say for her family, the likes of which was smashed apart the day her sketchy mother died in a car wreck. It has been unable to mend itself since.

As written by Susannah Grant from Jennifer Weiner’s best-selling novel, "In Her Shoes" isn’t the turgid soap opera it appears to be and it also isn’t the comedy it could have been. In spite of a handful of funny scenes and undercurrents that recall the "Bridget Jones" movies, the film is a drama first, with Curtis confidently guiding the story into new rooms with unexpected entrances.

While the principal story focuses on Rose and Maggie, who become unhappily divided, rounding out the complications is a spite-filled relationship with their cruel step-mother (Candice Azzara) and a weak father (Ken Howard), and the unexpected addition of Ella, a long-lost grandmother played to perfection by Shirley MacLaine.

As with Diaz’s spot-on performance, MacLaine reminds us here how great she can be when Hollywood isn’t serving her a big dish of ham. She is reserved, knowing and cool, gently stitching together a family that was taken from her after her daughter’s death. As for Collette, some will argue that her role is just an extension of the work she already did in "Muriel’s Wedding," and to a point, they’ll have a point. But to dismiss her for it would be a mistake. Some of the best performances come after years of refinement. Collette has walked in Rose’s shoes, she knows this woman’s soul, and the tone she strikes is just right.

Grade: A-