Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

dm4912000 First, you must see the original documentary before viewing this film.Only then will you be able to truly appreciate the acting perfection on display here. Jessica Lang and Drew Barrymore are perfect. The writing is masterful. The direction is spot on.Such talent and love for the subject matter is a rare thing to find in a film these days.Big and Little Eddy come to life in a way that was completely surprising to me. It takes rare courage to make a dramatic film based on a documentary. Such enterprises are fought with pitfalls and barriers. Even if you have not seen the original documentary, you will enjoy this film. However, if you have seen the original, you will praise this film. I cannot say enough good things. This is a must see!

DietCoke13 How can anyone watching this not feel anything but compassion and pity for these two women? Neither are mean or evil.....they just refuse to accept reality. The acting performances of Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore are extraordinary. These two women descend into a world where (among other delusions) they don't even understand that their house is completely unfit to live in, and that it is perfectly acceptable to have raccoons and cats living in your house. It's a great study of what co-dependency is all about. You really can't even get upset with the two sons...how can you reason with a woman who will not listen to simple common sense? One of the best parts is that it is based on a real story. Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore are outstanding. This film is definitely worth watching.

Robert D. Ruplenas ****possible spoiler***** It's a real challenge to make a movie about a mother and daughter both equally quasi-demented, deluded, and self-absorbed that holds our interest and makes us care about them. And this flick doesn't meet the challenge. I remember a critic saying once that the truest test of film-making is to make us care about the characters. After watching the insufferable antics of these two highly unlikable women for about forty-five minutes I reached the "why do I care" stage. I was strongly tempted to press the "stop", button, something I have done for a very limited list of truly awful movies, but by then the "train wreck" syndrome had set in; i.e. you know, it's a horrible situation but still you can't take your eyes away and you want to see how bad the damage is. I have not seen the original "Grey Gardens" documentary done by the Maysles brothers, but it is difficult to avoid thinking of them as two vultures, for salaciously poking into the lives of two women who, like so many others with less famous connections, have fallen into decrepitude, squalor and semi-insanity. If these women had not been related to Jacqueline Kennedy, would the original documentary have been made? But I digress. I did watch all the way to the end and the final "reconciliation" scene was to me neither moving nor convincing. Fuggedaboutit.

zetes A dramatization inspired by the Maysles Brothers' documentary Grey Gardens, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as Big and Little Edie Beale, Jackie Kennedy Onassis' eccentric aunt and cousin. The documentary is generally considered a classic, and gives you lots of hints about who these two women are, but few real explanations. Writer/director Suscy attempts to get to the bottom of the story. The mystery of the doc is nice, but it's also good to have the whole story. Plus, I definitely respond better to dramatizations than documentaries. I would accuse the documentary, or at least raise some slight food for thought, of being a tad exploitative. I thought it presented these people almost like they were a freak show. Yes, I can see that the Maysles had sympathy for the women, but it could definitely be seen as a little mean. This dramatization doesn't have that problem whatsoever. You can completely see who these people are, where they come from, and you feel their pain more deeply. The biggest thing to recommend about this film is Drew Barrymore. I'm sure she'll win an Emmy for it. She should be winning, or at least nominated for the Oscar. I've long felt that she's a talented actress who doesn't challenge herself enough. This proves it. I hope she finds more roles as good as this one in the future. She has matured fantastically. Lange is good, too, of course. Jean Tripplehorn, also an actress who never lived up to her full potential (presumably her career died with Waterworld), appears briefly in the movie's most powerful sequence as Jackie O. The actual film, though it's well done in general (I'd also point to the awesome make-up), isn't especially well directed. It does scream "television". Not a big deal with so much good stuff on screen elsewhere.