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''Lovely and Amazing'' is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written and directed by
Nicole Holofcener Nicole Holofcener (; born March 22, 1960) is an American film and television director and screenwriter. She has directed six feature films, including ''Walking and Talking'', '' Friends with Money'' and ''Enough Said'', as well as various televis ...
.


Plot

The story focuses on Jane Marks, her adult daughters Michelle and Elizabeth, and her pre-teen adopted
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
daughter Annie, each of whom allows her personal insecurities to affect her life. Jane, longing to look younger and thinner, opts for liposuction, with near tragic results. When Michelle's artistic talents fail to produce any income for her family, much to the dismay of her husband Bill, she takes a job as a one-hour photo developer and finds herself falling for the attention of her teenaged co-worker Jordan. Aspiring actress Elizabeth, who bestows upon stray dogs the affection she finds difficult to offer her boyfriend Paul, questions her appeal when she's rejected for a role based on her looks, and she seeks reassurance from film heartthrob Kevin McCabe. Overweight Annie tries to fit in better with her white adopted family by having her hair straightened by black
Big Sister Big Sister may refer to: *An older sister, see birth order *Big Sister (brothel), an online brothel in Prague *The Big Sister (Dexter's Laboratory), "The Big Sister" (Dexter's Laboratory), an episode of ''Dexter's Laboratory'' *"Big Sister," a son ...
volunteer Lorraine, who Jane hopes will put the young girl in touch with her heritage.


Сast


Production

The film debuted at the 2001
Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, t ...
. Prior to its initial limited release in New York City and Los Angeles, it was shown at the
Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...
, the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
, and the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
. In its widest release, the film played on only 175 screens in the US. It grossed $4,210,379 domestically and $485,402 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $4,695,781.


Critical reception

''Lovely & Amazing'' received a "fresh" rating from
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, reporting that 86% of critics gave the a film positive review, based on 124 reviews. At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 75 based on 31 reviews.Lovely & Amazing
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2013-01-09.
In his review in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Stephen Holden said, "As smart and observant as it is, ''Lovely and Amazing'' doesn't really go anywhere. Ms. Holofcener's sharp, witty dialogue shows an ear acutely tuned to the edgy, competitive nuances of contemporary banter, and the movie expertly evokes the rivalry percolating just below the surface of the Markses' relationships. But once family members have weathered their personal crises, little seems to have changed." Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' observed, "Here is a movie that knows its women, listens to them, doesn't give them a pass, allows them to be real: It's a rebuke to the shallow '' Ya-Ya Sisterhood''." In ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Todd McCarthy said, "Engaging, intermittently insightful but too glib to wring full value out of its subject matter, this brightly performed study of an extended family of females has enough going for it to quickly graduate from the fest circuit to a respectable career in specialized release . . . tevinces keen antenna for (mostly) female foibles, a good ear for dialogue, talent for directing thesps and a clean, unfussy visual style."
Mick LaSalle Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broad ...
of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' said, "Nicole Holofcener throws a bunch of issues on the table and takes time to linger over them, without worrying much about where her story's going or even if she has one. The result is a gutsy little picture and a nice
slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a characte ...
." In ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'',
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
opined, "In this painfully funny and touching look at the vanities and insecurities that a mother can pass on to her daughters in the name of love, writer-director Nicole Holofcener does a
chick flick Chick flick is a slang term, sometimes used pejoratively, for the film genre catered specifically to women's interests, and is marketed toward women demographics. They generally tend to appeal more to a younger female audience and deal mainly ...
right . . . Holofcener's film feels untidily honest. It's true to life, not to the Hollywood version." Kenneth Turan of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' said, "Like the best of personal, independent cinema . . . it is both marvelously observed and completely individual. There is no film like this film, and that is something you don't hear every day . . . it's so accurate about how people attempt meaningful emotional connections in an uncaring world of self-involvement, obtuseness and free-floating insecurity that it ought to be put in a time capsule."


Awards and nominations

*
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress The Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female was an award presented annually by Independent Spirit Awards, Film Independent. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an absolutely outstanding performance in a supporting actor ...
(Emily Mortimer, winner) *
Independent Spirit Award for Best Film The Independent Spirit Award for Best Film (or Best Feature) is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards, presented to recognize the best in independent filmmaking, it was first awarded in 1985 with Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorses ...
(nominee) *
Independent Spirit Award for Best Director The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Director is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It was first presented in 1985 with Joel Coen and Martin Scorsese being the first winners of the category for ''Blood Simple'' and ''After Hours ( ...
(nominee) *
Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...
(nominee) * Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress (Catherine Keener, nominee) *Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance (Raven Goodwin, nominee) *
Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay The Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay is an annual award given by the International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, representing both domestic ...
(nominee) * Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Keener, nominee) *
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
(Mortimer, nominee) * Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (Mortimer, nominee) * Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance (Goodwin, nominee)


See also

*
List of American films of 2001 This is a list of American films released in 2001 in film, 2001. ''A Beautiful Mind (film), A Beautiful Mind'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fell ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovely and Amazing 2001 films 2001 comedy-drama films American independent films Lionsgate films Films directed by Nicole Holofcener American comedy-drama films Films with screenplays by Nicole Holofcener 2001 comedy films 2001 drama films 2001 independent films Films about mother–daughter relationships Films about adoption Films about parenting 2000s English-language films 2000s American films