Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4477 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-31
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jon Kasdan's directorial debut, In the Land of Women, is a touching romantic comedy portraying the love quandaries of a hip, Hollywood twenty-something to show how his fast-paced life as a porn screenwriter encourages the jaded attitude at the root of his angst. Carter Webb (Adam Brody) hangs out in a recognisable Los Feliz cafe, where in the opening scene he is dumped by his sultry Gap-model girlfriend. In hopes of salvaging his last ounce of creativity to pen a real story, Carter escapes to peaceful, suburban Michigan to care for his grandmother, Phyllis (Olympia Dukakis). Phyllis' death obsession, however, drives him outdoors, where he befriends neighbour Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan) and her two daughters, Lucy (Kristen Stewart) and Paige (Mackenzie Vega). Bonding with both the more mature Sarah, sick with breast cancer, and the discombobulated teen Lucy, Carter redefines love with his new understanding of what it means to think about things other than one's self.

Bright, crisp colours and fairly natural lighting lends the film a contemporary feel, and the script is surprisingly unsentimental. Ryan's performance--less saccharine than some previous--along with Brody's wry character and Dukakis as a bitter dying woman, help the film to avoid corny melodrama so common to the genre. Unfortunately, the ending is too neatly tied up, but not enough to destroy what emotional poignancy the film has generated. Ultimately a critique of the vacant, superficial lifestyle that a life in Hollywood perpetuates, In the Land of Women leaves one wondering whether Kasdan's attraction to the script wasn't based on his own Los Angeles experiences. -—Trinie Dalton

Synopsis
In The Land Of Women is a surprisingly sombre yet funny coming-of-age tale from director Jon Kasdan, and stars Adam Brody in a role not too different from his beloved Seth Cohen on the night-time teen soap ,The O.C.. Brody, playing a character his own age, breezily inhabits Carter, a lovable but somewhat directionless screenwriter (if you count soft-core porn films) who is dumped by his beautiful but shallow starlet girlfriend Sofia at the start of the film. In crisis mode, he packs up and heads to the Detroit suburb where his senile grandmother (Olympia Dukakis, Steel Magnolia) lives, in an attempt to help her out and get some perspective. While desperately trying to make sense of his grandmother's incoherent ramblings, Carter slaves away at a long-coming screenplay and creates confusing friendships with the mother (Meg Ryan) and daughter (Kristen Stewart, Panic Room) next door...

Customer Reviews

This little known film is embracingly enioyable.
Released in the US in April 2007, 'In the Land of Women' was neither a critical or commercial success. This lead to there being no cinematic release here in the UK, for reasons which are beyond me. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and i think you will too.
It is very well cast, with a post-OC Adam Brody doing what he demonstrated so well in that shortlived show- deftly neurotic but sweet humour. basically he is playing a more grown up Seth Cohen which drew me to this film. Then there is a very heartfelt performance from Meg Ryan, who goes through a personal tragedy during the narrative. These two main protagonists display such convincing chemistry on screen that it makes the film a more believable and touching experience.
I loved that these two characters were so able to connect with one another, two world-weary souls reaching out to each other, culminating in a fond relationship. This friendship is the reason why this film works on all they levels it should.
I am baffled as to why this has been so overlooked and given poor reviews. It really is a very well done film which deserves all the fans it can and should get.
I enjoyed the understated humour and the storyline and felt i was able to connect with the two leads.
Dont get me wrong there are a few flaws. Some of the characters are underwritten, leaving a confusion as to what their purpose is. The film also deserves to be at least 20 minutes longer than it is so to flesh out its interesting characters in a more sufficient way.
All in all, this intricate film benefits from two strong leading stars (from different sides of the acting spectrum) and a plausible narrative which is both witty and wise.
This may not be the most groundbreaking 90 minutes of your time, but it is time well spent. This comes highly recommended.

Nice Suprise
I picked up this DVD whilst food shopping, it was £4 and I thought it looked like a good Rom/com.

However when I started watching it I realised what a complete bargain I hand landed upon. Adam Brody is just fantastic and completely loveable and believable. Whilst Meg Ryan does what she does best and I can't see why anyone wouldn't like it.

Great story, nice heart felt moments, not to mention the cute little girl in it. I felt that I had learnt something from this film as well as enjoying the fantastic story.

Adam Brody-Fest With A Cute Storyline.
Well to start off, I must say that if your a fan of Adam Brody you must watch this as hes in partically every scene. I kid you not! And whats better is the character he plays isnt all that different from Seth Cohen. Sure a little more sucessful with the ladies but whatever.

To the movie itself, i was pleasently surprised. It was sweet without being sugary, it was amusing without being stupid and it was believeable without being unentertaining. The casting is brilliant expect maybe Meg Ryan, whose preformance i felt lacked a little depth. But the the two girls playing her daughters made up for it.

I felt really good after watching this. I think it will give you the same feeling. Dont believe the bad hype. Give it a go dudes!