Here's
yet another new arrival that made it's debut at The Sundance Film Festival. Heather
Graham (Boogie Nights) stars as a young woman whose life is plunged into turmoil
when her newlywed husband (Luke Wilson of Bottle Rocket fame) up and leaves their
happy home. Determined to save their marriage, Graham heads out on a road trip
to find her man and salvage their relationship. Along the way, she meets an odd
assortment of characters and finds herself in a series of strange situations.
This
is one of those films that seems to be more quirky than anything else. It's a
cartoonish look at the institution of marriage and shows how far this woman will
go to recapture something that she may not even want. Committed does have its
charms and Graham is certainly one of them. Some of the other actors in the film
don't fare as well. Wilson falls flat, as does Casey Affleck (brother of Ben).
The film also doesn't know when to quit beating its plot into the ground.
Committed
never really takes itself too seriously, but it also tends to be too darned meandering.
And although many of the performances in the film are fine and Graham is engaging,
Committed suffers from a little too much whimsy and not nearly enough heart.
