Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The two primary questions I use in evaluating a film are: "Is it a story worth telling?", and "is it a story well told?" When I apply these questions to Jocelyn Morehouse's A Thousand Acres (adapted from the novel by Jane Smiley), the answers are: yes, yes and no. The basic story is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. This story provides fertile soil for a tragic, but compelling story as told in Jane Smiley's novel as she moves the setting of the story to the cornfields of Iowa. This revisionist King Lear has an aging farmer (played by two-time Oscar winner Jason Robards) proposing to divide his farm among his three daughters as a way of minimizing the costs of inheritance taxes. The youngest daughter expresses some reservations, and is immediately cut out of the partnership. When the farm is divided between the other two daughters, the stage is set for a tragedy of epic proportions. As the story unfolds, the family relations are strained and broken by greed, betrayal, death, abuse, miscommunication, and ghosts from the past. When Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer read Jane Smiley's novel, they purchased the screen rights. Women are at the center of this project from beginning to end. This is actually somewhat refreshing, since Hollywood is not known for sensitivity in its portrayal of females or in its understanding of female viewpoints. Unfortunately, this has led some to dismiss the film as a "chick flick." While there are no male characters in the film for whom we feel much compassion or sympathy, the film is really about Ginny (as played by Jessica Lange). If the viewer follows the dramatic arc of this character, it is easier to find the heart of this film.Finding the heart of the film appears to be a problem. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars (out of a possible four), Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a letter grade of F. Others--myself included--liked it a bit better than that.The film is clearly not without its problems. Film adaptations are difficult because richly textured stories must be trimmed and abridged to fit a two-hour time span for the typical film. Most of the criticisms of A Thousand Acres revolve around underdeveloped characters, subplots left hanging, and unclear story lines. I suspect some of this is the result of commercial tampering and trimming by the producers. Some of the blame clearly goes to director Jocelyn Morehouse who doesn't do enough to help us care about some of the characters. When tragedy strikes, it is almost as if we are reading about strangers in a newspaper.The performances by Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer (Pfeiffer plays the second sister, Rose) are so compelling that the film remains engaging in spite of its flaws. Jessica Lange gives what may be the performance of her already Oscar-rich career (Tootsie and Blue Sky). This is a different kind of role for Pfeiffer and she clearly rises to the occasion. A Thousand Acres is worth seeing if you are interested in a good story that comes close to being well told.

This just in, folks: Women (all, no matter how depraved) are good; men (all, no matter how virtuous) are bad.Meat- eaters bad, vegetarians good.The ONLY reason I didn't rate it one star is the somewhat decent performances by Pfeiffer and Lange.Talk about Hollywood trashing the heartland - as it is so fond of doing.The producers and directors should collectively be hanged. What more does IMDb require to write a review?

Jessica Lange and Michelle Pheiffer were the reasons I watched the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to see Carradine, Robards and Hingle were also there, and none of them disappointed me.I was, however, disappointed that this is another one in the endless line of movies coping with incestuous abuse of children. This important and tragic theme became boring, because American movie makers can't imagine any other tragedy and dark secret a family might have. A thing that was a taboo for centuries became a top one subject in last two decades, abused as the children they show. Children abused for sexual, theme abused for commercial reasons. What's the worst, instead of waking us up and telling us, hey, these things happen, open your eyes, help children, help people - they make us yawn, say oh not again, I've seen it yesterday and the day, and week before, and we change the TV channel.In fact, if you don't give up, you'll be awarded by much better elaboration of this subject than average, due to great actors in great roles, and not to the director. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if this hate against male gender represents the attitude of writer or director, but even the radical feminists usually don't go that far. There is not a single male character who doesn't turn to be a rubbish in few minutes after appearing on screen. Women may not be perfect, but men are pure crap. If there was a spider in the movie, it would be a predator in ambush catching a (female) fly if it was a male spider, or a victim of a (male) bird if it was a female spider.Only a person who keeps so much hate in herself can create a character like Ginny. Her hate poisoned everyone's life, spreading sorrow and death. There is no excuse for her: Rose's childhood was no better than Ginny's yet she didn't devote her life to hurting others. You can't expect forgiving for what has been done to her, even Christian's forgiveness has limits. If she wanted to save other children or prosecute her father, no one would make an objection. Also, one would understand if she kept her destiny hidden and that caused her psychological problems, but she shared her secret with Pete (and that also brought misery to both of them). Finally, when her father was so senile that it was too late for revenge, even on her dying day she wanted to burden people who avoided being hurt and molested. Rose, however, understands that would do no good, and that hate destroys person who hates even more than the one who is hated.Michelle Pheiffer made a great performance: we don't approve what's Ginny doing, but we understand her. She simultaneously provokes sorrow and anger in us. Jessica Lange is good as always, and the fact that Rose's motifs often aren't clear enough is not her fault. Why is Carradine in the background and finally thrown away by Rose (and director) stays a mystery for me. Probably because he is male.Like former comments, I wrote some praises and some serious objections. The truth is in the middle: it is an average movie you probably won't regret if you watch it, but also shouldn't be sorry if you miss it.

This movie is excellent in how it portrays the reality of sexual abuse. The daughters perfectly express their conflicting emotions of affection and betrayal. The on-location scenery is absorbingly authentic, and the soundtrack is unobtrusive yet moving. This film is a graduate-level course in a reality that's too little recognized in American society. Personally, I'm freaked out by the names of the characters -- Lange's character is Ginny Cook Smith -- my name is Connie Cook Smith, and my mom is Genny Cook. The youngest daughter is Caroline Cook, which is my sister's name, and the father is Larry Cook, my cousin's name.But sex abuse was not in our immediate family.