Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7110 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-03-13
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Her Shoes just gets better and better as it goes along. As adapted by Erin Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, this is one of those rare movies that actually improves on its source material (Jennifer Weiner's "chick lit" bestseller), with thoughtful direction by Curtis Hanson, the L.A. Confidential Oscar-winner who approaches any chosen genre with Hawksian versatility.

At first it seems like Weiner's novel might yield a standard melodrama of sibling rivalry, but the polar opposition of smart, plain-looking Philadelphia lawyer Rose (the always-excellent Toni Collette) and her sexy, illiterate, irresponsible sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is just the starting point. In Her Shoes becomes a moving, richly developed character study that deals with painful loss, long-term guilt, negative self-image, and the discovery of a heretofore unknown grandmother named Ella (played with delicate nuance by Shirley MacLaine), whose re-entry into the sisters' lives sets the stage for the well-earned emotions of a satisfying reconciliation.

As Maggie takes stock of her dismal life while staying with Ella at a Florida "retirement home for active seniors," Hanson never condescends to these likable characters, and never goes for the easy laughs in a setting that could have devolved into Cocoon-like comedy. The movie's all the more endearing for treating its male characters (played by Mark Feuerstein, Ken Howard, and Richard Burgi) with equal depth and sympathy, further enhancing a classy tearjerker that viewers of both genders can thoroughly enjoy.-- Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
In this screen adaptation of Jennifer Weiner's bestselling novel, Toni Collette (MURIEL'S WEDDING) is Rose Feller, an overweight, overworked, and painfully undersexed lawyer who fills an emotional void with pints of Haagen-Dazs and a closetful of expensive shoes that she never wears. Little sis Maggie (an always radiant Cameron Diaz), who is prone to public drunkenness, one night stands, and wearing lingerie as outerwear, is as lacking in career prospects as her sister is in romantic ones. When her irresponsible behaviour gets her kicked out of her father's house by her spiteful stepmother, Maggie has nowhere to crash but her elder sister's couch. But, after she ignites a series of disasters ranging from the minor to the catastrophic, Maggie is cast out by her angry older sibling, with no job, no money, and no one to take her in. She finds a stash of hidden letters in her father's desk drawer that enable her to track down her estranged grandmother (the wonderfully centred Shirley MacLaine) in a Florida retirement community, hoping to use her impressive skills of manipulation and false charm to financial benefit. While Maggie begins to adapt to life as a nubile young fish in the waters of shuffleboard and wheelchairs, Rose, up in the wintry north, quits her stifling job and begins her own personal transformation. Both women's paths to spiritual growth and self-actualisation might ring false if handled by less nuanced performers and a flashier director, but here they are subtle enough to be both inspiring and realistic. Director Curtis Hanson has proven to be a flexible artist, jumping from genre to genre with the prowess and confidence of those studio directors of Hollywood's Golden Age. With IN HER SHOES, the man behind L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and 8 MILE elevates the chick flick out of that pigeonhole, crafting a story of surprising depth and universal appeal.

Customer Reviews

one word, WOW!
Curtis Hanson wouldn’t be the most likely choice or the first to adapt the Jennifer Weiner novel about girls and shoes ‘In Her Shoes’. The dramatic comical tale of two sisters and how their lives differ after a harsh betrayal in the sisterhood. This at first glance isn’t the perfect material for the director of the violent testosterone driven ‘LA Confidential’. How wrong that initial thought is.
Toni Collette plays Rose, a work driven, frumpy and downright depressed lawyer. Cameron Diaz is Maggie, the opposite cliché, the free spirited party girl. Maggie is ever dependent on her sibling, but when she crosses the line when Rose finally hits the jackpot romantically, a painful feud and separation ensues.
Collette boasts her undisputable star power, as she brings new life to her superb character that could have been a daft stereotype in the hands of a less established actress. Rose is always looking out for her sister, considering job possibilities before her own personal indulgences. Collette portrays this element of her character deftly and powerfully. The murmurs of Best Actress Oscar just keep getting louder. Diaz is of a similar strength, avoiding the cliché in like Collette in her believable and poignant role.
Hanson moulds wonderful and unexplored elements of the family drama, intertwining the serious and amusing features into a genre type that switches between the sisters’ lives.
There is no violence present, yet certain parts of the frame can easily appeal to the male viewers (and no, not just Cameron Diaz in a skimpy bikini). On the surface, all the qualities that structure the chick flick are there, but internally, the film contains a brutal frankness
about it and snappy humour to entertain the boys.
There is an effective transition between the cold Philadelphia cityscape and the colourful Florida resort. Shirley Maclaine doesn’t surprise in her wise old grandmother role, and she shines as the legend she is, being one of the key players in Hanson’s scheme to teach the importance of family emotions. In fact the whole quartet of elders (particularly the hospitalised ex-professor) are rewarding to the film.
By turns it ‘s heartwarming yet at particular times heart wrenching, and the film’s leads teach the integral values of family, love and human emotions.
As mentioned several times previously, the potential clichés have been avoided, by Weiner’s skill to restore the characters to compelling people, and Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant does justice to the gifts that the sophomore aimed novel gave us.
Compassionate, moving yet hilarious. Through the hardest negative efforts to find a flaw to this, I just can’t insult this honest faultless gem.

Cameron Diaz at her best.
After reading some of the other reviews of this film on this site, I felt compelled to write my own review. Sure, everyone has their own tastes but, in my opinion, it is ridiculous to award this film 1 star. Sure, feel good chick flicks may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is a lot more to this film than that and I say that as a 29 year old male.
I have watched this film 5 times. I hired it from my local video store on 2 occasions and watched it twice, both times. I really can't recommend this film enough. To criticise this film for being shallow, or unemotional or too long, I think you either have to be a psychopath, devoid of all human emotion, or a bitter resentful female, who is just jealous of Cameron Diaz and her beauty!!!
Perhaps I love this film for personal reasons, but the issues it deals with, loss, insecurity, redemption, forgiveness as well as mental health and literacy are all dealt with a great deal of tact and the film never comes across as cheesy. Even the bit where Diaz reads the poem is well done and the poetry featured in the film is really beautiful too.
All 3 of the main characters are acted out with a great deal of emotion without anyone milking it in situations where that could so easily have been the case.
I will probably end up watching this film another 50 or 60 times. The last film that made me do that was American Beauty and there are certain similarities between the 2 films in my opinion. The humour in "In her Shoes" is subtle and the way that the film alternates from really funny scenes straight to very emotional scenes (ie Collette and Diaz talikng about their mothers death) is done in a way that allows the film to flow in a very inteligent way. I've cried every single time I've watched this film.
Don't be persuaded by the negative reviews of this film. As I say, everyone has their own preferances but it does seem a bit odd that someone should mark this film so lowly when it got great reviews from Empire and Heat.

The ins and outs of sibling love…
Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is a naughty party girl. We first meet her when she's throwing up in the rest room of a nightclub, a young hunk hovering over her in disgust. Insecure and neglected, she's been coasting through life basically on her looks. But time is steadily catching up with her; she can no longer rely on her tarty beauty and her ability to beguile men as much as she used to.

Her more introverted sister Rose (Toni Collette) is Maggie's mirror opposite: She's superficially a mess - a slightly overweight workaholic who settles for finding love in the pages of romance novels. She buys shoes because they are the only item of clothing that fits her properly, and marvels at her handsome boss' presence in her bed, even taking a photo of him to prove that he is actually there.

Both these sisters are insecure, but in different ways and about different things. With Maggie passed out drunk, Rose needs to come pick her up. When she tries to take Maggie back to their father's house, however, she's barred at the door by their evil stepmother, who insists Rose take her sister home with her. Maggie steals from and betrays Rose, she helps herself to her sister's expensive shoes, ice cream, and other stuff that she knows she's no supposed to take.

Rose is obviously angry with her sister's laziness and lack of ambition, yet she is reluctant to evict her, when Maggie betrays Rose in a moment of thoughtlessness, a gigantic rift is caused between them. Finally evicted, she boards a bus to Florida without a word to anyone, hooking up with her long lost grandmother, Ella (Shirley MacLaine). Ella helps Maggie get back on track, finding her a job as a hospice worker and helping her start a business as a personal shopper for the assisted-living set. Rose meanwhile comes to terms with her insecurities by quitting her job and becoming a part-time dog walker and even gaining a new boyfriend (Mark Feuerstein) in the process.

In Her Shoes is all about the ups and downs of sibling love between injured and self-doubting opposites. And while this issue has obviously been movingly explored in other movies, rarely has it been tackled with such emotional honesty. Although In her Shoes may be earnest, and contemporary, and it certainly highlights the needs and insecurities of women; the film is not that ironical – apart from the fact that Maggie and Rose are apprehensive about different things, and it's interestingly un-cynical; there's definitely no room for cutting-edge, or clever hipness in director Curtis Hanson's world.

Instead we have a heart felt and well acted drama that is more interested in flirting around the mysteries of a love-hate relationship and selling the message of the importance of family and that everything's probably going to turn out alright in the end. For Rose, salvation and deliverance comes in the form of exotic food and a man who disregards her propensity to put on the pounds and can finally love her for whom she is, and for Maggie it comes in the form of newly found confidence, insight, responsibity, and even poetry!

The acting is generally top-notch, with the incredible Ms. Collette, with her horsy laugh and wide, puppy dog eyes proving that she's one of the most versatile actors around. And Shirley MacLaine does a nicely understated turn as Grandma Ella, but it is Cameron Diaz who is the real find here, giving one of her best performances in years as the irresponsible, good for nothing vamp Maggie.

In Her Shoes lacks originality and is fairly formulaic fare, but it builds to a surprising level of emotional power, and makes up for its shortcomings with its understated intelligence, sensitivity and finely attuned sense of character. Hanson is a restrained but confident director who knows that an audience will remain engaged to a story, no matter how prescribed, as long as people they care about populate it. Mike Leonard February 06.