Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

To me, this movie is perfection.

A Masterpiece!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Another one of those awful little films about totally homogenized, interchangeable beings who all look, sound, act and think the same. Ms Close, usually insipid, sinks to the occasion. Absolutely no redeeming value, whatsoever. Spoiler? There is no way TO spoil this film. One knows from the first frame that the result will be terminal boredom, dished in fatal doses, by single-dimension characters designed to spew rote phrases, knowing smiles, and a vacuum that more and more has come to signify the "enlightened" of our time. Rest assured that there will be ample opportunities for them all to gather, release the inevitable metaphoric doves of failure, and celebrate each. Try to tune in for the last scene. The tablecloth and closing "music" sum things up perfectly.

This film, which is supposed to be adapted from a collection of short stories written by A. M. Homes, is extremely painful to watch. The film follows four different neighborhood families with intertwining lives, while the book is simply stories about unrelated individuals and is, in fact, much more powerful. In the film each individual from the short stories becomes a member of a troubled family, making it so that the some of stories are barely touched on, while others are elaborated. Though the elaborate ones may be fairly easy to understand, the tales that are brushed over seem to have little relevance to the film and make the viewer feel confused and empty. The book may stand alone, but if you have not read it, you will not understand the film which is so muddled and filled with material that at two hours long is easily two hours too much. I continued watching until the end, hoping that there would some conclusion to make the intertwining families' lives have a significant meaning, and felt so exasperated that I finally stopped the film with five minutes left, feeling unable to watch a second longer.

I think I really wanted to like this film. Unfortunately, there were many elements that I found very cumbersome to the overall story/plot, or lack thereof.The cast was really good, Dermot Mulroney, Glenn Close, Joshua Jackson. The idea of studying individual lives that share connecting threads is one that I usually find enticing. There were some deep seated demons within the group of characters. Among these demons, there seemed to be no consequences for their actions. I think the movie is incorrectly titled. There were no tangible objects within the film. At one point, you see Mulroney clinging to a stupid baseball mitt that he steals, what the heck was that all about? There there is his son that has a sexual relationship with a Barbie doll knock off. Hello, strange waters I choose not to swim in there.Then there is Close attempting to win an automobile for her daughter, who makes it 71 hours into the competition, then suddenly gives up the fight because it's an automobile accident that caused her son to be in this paralyzed coma he's in through the whole movie. Incidentally, I'm not sure why the boy wasn't in the hospital here? A very weak plot is stating the fact kindly.In the end, this whole mess of interwoven threads not unlike the silly friendship bracelet woven by a little girl who you think is a boy through most of the movie, is never completely tied off. The movie ends with this strange idea that it's okay to steal, murder, masturbate, have relationships with dolls, invite another young child to touch your private parts, cheat on your spouses, drink and drive, be irresponsible and promiscuous, and then wonder why you are depressed over God having a "wicked sense of humor" here?I'm sorry that it kept me up in the wee hours of the night and I was crippled by my inability to look away from a car crash.....pun intended.

The first time I saw this movie, I didn't like it. I decided to give it a second watch because it was such a good cast, and it left a creepy, haunting feeling with me, I thought: what was that? The movie is difficult to watch, its not entertaining and I can't say that it's very good. The philosophical underpinning is revealed titularly, and there is nothing very interesting about it, its like, yeah we know... I gave the movie 7 out of 10 only because Glenn Close is ridiculously good. Its really one of the most interesting female performances of late. The barbie doll thing was a bit disturbing, but the director deserves a break for taking chances that are not commercial. Worth looking at. Good Cast. Is the movie supposed to be weird, or did someone make a mistake? Glenn's great.