In Her Shoes

I was fairly surprised by In Her Shoes. I was expecting an overly long chick flick movie where Cameron Diaz plays a hot chick and Toni Collette plays her exasperated sister. While certainly aimed squarely at the female demographic, the movie didn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence with standard chick movie clichés.

In Her Shoes centers on two sisters, Rose (Toni Collette) and Maggie (Cameron Diaz) who have a close yet tumultuous relationship. Maggie is the pretty sister (à la Jessica and Ashlee Simpson), and she relies completely upon her stunningly beautiful looks to get by in life. When that fails, she falls back on her ever-accommodating, if not annoyed, sister, Rose. As a self-absorbed and inconsiderate freeloader, Maggie thoughtlessly trashes Rose’s apartment, wears her shoes without asking, and generally makes an annoying nuisance of herself—but not in a funny, Cat-in-the-Hat kind of way that makes Rose laugh in spite of herself, more in a car-towing, boyfriend-stealing kind of way that makes Rose angry. Finally, Rose reaches the breaking point and kicks Maggie out of her apartment, telling her to figure out her living arrangements on her own. Sisters can be mean like that sometimes. While Maggie rummages through her father’s house looking for spare cash—which apparently her dad keeps hidden all over the house in some sort of bizarre treasure hunt fashion—she stumbles upon a box full of old birthday and holiday cards sent to the girls by their heretofore unknown grandmother. Desperate for a place to go and out of options, Maggie heads for Florida in an attempt to mooch off a grandmother she has never met, without telling her sister or father where she is going.

At this point in the film, both sisters break out of their routines and learn valuable lessons about themselves, which is quite touching and emotional, etc... Rose finally allows a long-standing admirer from her firm to take her out on a date, and she is shocked when he seems to be really taken with her. Having perpetually stood in the shadow of her younger sister’s beauty and being slightly overweight, Rose never gave herself a chance, much less allowed any potential suitors to get to know her. While Rose finds confidence and builds a strong relationship with her new boyfriend, Simon (Mark Feuerstein), Maggie loafs around the pool at the retirement community and reluctantly opens up to her grandmother, Ella (Shirley MacLaine). This half of the movie was surprisingly funny, with fantastic dialogue and an assortment of entertaining characters. At a friend’s suggestion, Ella finally coaxes Maggie into bonding with her the old-fashioned way: cable tv and reruns of Sex & the City. Excellent.

This movie was entirely focused on its characters and their respective progression through a difficult time. Rose has tried to protect her younger sister from everything terrible in the world, resulting, in part, with Maggie’s complete reliance upon her and inability to grow up. Their separation after a particularly nasty fight finally allows them to deal with their particular issues and eventually rebuild their damaged relationship.

The movie is an estrogen-heavy film to be sure, so I believe that most women would really enjoy it despite the ridiculously long running time. It wasn’t insipid or cliché, however, so I was happy to discover that I really enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it is necessarily a date movie, but it is definitely the perfect movie for a girls’ night out.