by Saintmort Guilty Pleasure: In The Land of Women

The first time I heard of In the Land of Women was from my best friend Jeff. He had randomly mentioned that he had seen it. Now he and all of our friends would go to the movies every weekend so I asked who he went with and he shamefully said ‘I went alone.’ Jeff was a very open O.C. fan so he saw it because he loved Adam Brody and was too embarrassed to tell anyone that he wanted to see it. He and I would rent and watch shit like Must Love Dogs and Elizabethtown without shame… but In the Land of Woman was too much for him to admit he wanted to see.

I can understand why though. The film was so poorly advertised that it looked like a bad romantic comedy along the lines of Sweet Home Alabama (except that movie made money). In reality, the film is a fun coming of age film with an awkward love story intermixed like Garden State or Chasing Amy.

The film follows two different people who end up in each other’s lives due to a series of random events. After his girlfriend Sophia leaves him, Carter Webb (Adam Brody) decides to take a break from LA and stay with his grandmother in Michigan for a bit. Meanwhile, Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan) has discovered a potentially cancerous lump on her breast and tells her daughter Lucy (Kristen Stewart) who doesn’t really react to it at all.

Sarah and Carter become friends and Sarah tries to convince Lucy to hang out with him sometime. Carter and Sarah become closer and closer and eventually share an awkward kiss. Shortly afterwards Lucy asks Carter out and they too share an awkward kiss. Carter backs away from the family as Sarah is angry at him for kissing Lucy. They work out their issues and Carter moves back to Los Angeles.

I love coming-of-age dramedies. In the Land of Women is a fantastic entry in this genre, filled with hilarious one liners and sincerely touching moments. Adam Brody is a fantastic actor with a genuine personality and has great delivery throughout. Kristen Stewart is better than you’d expect from her (without expecting much) and Meg Ryan is the most charming she’s been since the early 90s. Regardless of all of this, the movie has a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes and most people don’t even know it exists.

John Kasdan’s sophomore film The First Time is creating lots of buzz since it premiered at Sundance last month so I can only hope that the positive reviews will make people re-discover his delightful debut feature film.

Editor’s Fact for Matt Kelly: The movie opens and closes at the counter of the 101 Cafe, where I had your parents surprise you for your birthday this year. You’re welcome.