Girl in the Park, The

Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Kate Bosworth, Alessandro Nivola, Keri Russell, David Rasche, Elias Koteas, Joanna Gleason

Director: David Auburn

When happily married Weaver takes her small daughter to the park, you just feel disaster is about to strike. As Sigourney makes a few adjustments in her bag, her daughter is whisked away from under her nose. An improbable beginning to a passable if predictable drama about a burden of grief and guilt that follows the mother throughout her life.

It's 16 years later, and her son (Nivola, an unlikely not-too-tall offspring of now-divorced six-footers Weaver and Rasche) is about to be married to sweet (if pregnant) Russell when Weaver runs into a girl (Bosworth) being deserted by her lover in a coffee bar. Despite the fact that, on first acquaintance, the girl rooks her for 700 dollars, Weaver takes her under her wing, allowing her to move into her apartment.

Things here always seem about to snap at any moment, but Nivola's outburst on his mother calling Bosworth by his missing sister's name at a family gathering rings uncomfortably false, as do much of the other developments in this well-acted drama (good to see Weaver in a strong leading role again) that never quite hits the mark.

David Quinlan

USA 2007. UK Distributor: Unanimous Pictures. Eastman Colour by Kodak.
109 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 29 Nov 2008