We are coddled with bittersweet cocoa, dazzled with movie-star melodramatics and then trotted off to warm beds with assurance that as hard as life may get, there will always be a movie to trivialize our pain.

It's a lovely daydream, made lovelier by the fiercely maternal performance of Sarandon as a lioness protecting her cubs, and Julia Roberts as a mass of insecurity trying to measure up to impossible standards.

Well, if unearned pathos is your cup of tea, drink up.

Premature death has long been a screenwriter's crutch, but it's rarely felt as annoying as it does here.