Contains the occasional barb -- mainly from Kyra Sedgwick, who steals the film as Roberts' tart-tongued sister. But Roberts herself is a drip, and it's a dull story.

The film, though not unentertaining, keeps on backtracking, sentimentalising and not quite getting to grips with its subject matter.

The humanity is spread around with a quirky, generous hand, reason enough to distinguish this quiet, low-tech comedy in a season of big-bang juvenilia.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Sedgwick's spirited monopoly on one-liners, all this happens not only with unrelating meandering mundanity and a drab performance from Roberts, but also with the addition of a [pointless] subplot.