Product Description

Marilyn Vine’s (Andie MacDowell) idyllic life in Connecticut is devastated by the tragic death of her only son Dale during his 15th birthday party. 3,000 miles away, Ria Lynch’s (Olivia Williams) marriage comes to a stunningly abrupt end in Dublin, Ireland, when husband Danny (Iain Glen) reveals that he is leaving her for his pregnant mistress, Bernadette (Heike Makatsch). An accidental phone call brings these two otherwise unrelated women together and, in their mutual need for space and time alone, they agree to a two-month house exchange. In swapping homes, both women slowly find healing and strength through new surroundings and the kindness of others and gradually learn to accept the reality of their changed lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70636 in DVD
• Brand: FIRST LOOK HOME ENT.
• Released on: 2007-10-09
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Features

• Marilyn Vine s (Andie MacDowell) idyllic life in Connecticut is devastated by the tragic death of her only son Dale during his 15th birthday party. 3,000 miles away, Ria Lynch s (Olivia Williams) marriage comes to a stunningly abrupt end in Dublin, Ireland, when husband Danny (Iain Glen) reveals that he is leaving her for his pregnant mistress, Bernadette (Heike Makatsch). An accidental phone call

Customer Reviews

perhaps changing surroundings can help
It is a fascinating plot, well executed, with excellent character acting, well worth a watching.

The plot is about two hurting women. The first lost her son in a motorcycle accident on his birthday, on the motorcycle his father gave them.
The second has just found out that her husband's girlfriend is pregnant and he is leaving the wife for the girlfriend.
both women hope that a change of scenery offers a chance to fix what ails them. so they exchange houses for the summer.

What happens with each reflects partly the conditions, partly each woman's desire to heal and be whole again. The Dublin house is on Tara Road, it is the center of a large family with lots of social connections. The New England house is private, not surrounded by neighbors but isolated from all but 2 or 3. In a believable and understandable way, each woman adapts to her new surroundings, adopts the others house along with all of the other woman's attachments and begin to fix what ails them.

It is cute without being maudlin, you cheer for each, sharing their pain and hopes for a better life. You grimace when she takes the stupid husband back into her bed one last time, you love it when she tosses the vases and the bust at him. It is a tear jerker of a movie, with about equal amounts of tears and cheers, an upbeat ending where the bad guys suffer at the hands of their long suffering wives. All in all a decent movie.

Get Ready for a Total Chick Flick
When they define the term "chick flick" in future dictionaries, Tara Road will likely be cited as a perfect example of the genre.

The film, starring Andie McDowell, is well done. As usual McDowell turns in a workmanlike performance as Marilyn, whose son dies in a motorcycle accident, in front of friends and family, during his birthday celebration. She becomes depressed and blames her husband for their son's death.

Olivia Williams also turns in a fine performance as Ria, Irish housewife whose husband is cheating on her. These two clearly have communication problems; in the beginning of the movie, she tells him she wants to have another child; he in turn tells her he has been having an affair.

So what happens? The two women hook up by phone a decide, in about two minutes, to switch residences and rebuild their lives. Marilyn acclimates herself to the Irish countryside, and Ria moves to Connecticut, loosens up and meets Marilyn's sassy friends.

The film is very formulaic. I did not read the book but some of the dialogue is sophmoric and I was surprised the actors were able to deliver their lines with a straight face. If you have some time to kill, and it's raining outside, go ahead and watch it. Otherwise, read the book. You'll probably find it more entertaining.

Engrossing Character Piece
This was a good movie in several aspects. First was that it was a character piece, which is always a favorite genre of mine, even though the ending was a bit unrealistic.

For the most part, the movie was believable and I really cared for the characters involved. The acting was spot on and the actors involved give a stunning performance. Though it is not usually a highlight of mine, but the camera work was fantastic with all of the scenic shots of New England and Ireland. It was just beautiful. The pace of the movie was pretty good as well in that it wasn't going to fast but it kept the story rolling fast enough that it wasn't putting me to sleep either. The right balance was maintained for this movie from beginning to end. All in all, the movie was entertaining.

My only negative comment on this movie was how I felt after watching this movie. Instead of feeling inspired or enlightened I felt depressed instead.

Despite the fine acting, this movie is definitely a chick flick so if you are into that type of thing then this is a movie you need to rush out and pick up.