PopSixSquish What a beautiful, affecting story. Twin sisters from Holland, raised by gay fathers, travel to the US to help out the injured birth mother they've never met. One is serious, uptight, hardworking, career-obsessed; she has issues to work out with the misogynistic, belittling boss who undervalues her. The other is sunny, fun-loving, optimistic, family-oriented; she has issues to work out with her controlling, infantilizing husband. (Yeah, a bit of a Twilight Sparkle/Pinkie Pie dynamic.) The former has never let herself waste time wondering about their "womb," while the latter has always had a bit of an obsession with her visions of their American hippie mom. Yes, there are rotten male characters (on top of the boss and husband, the sisters get assaulted by a despicable group of men outside a tavern), but they're balanced by good ones, and the movie doesn't shove any ham-fisted or misandrist messages down your throat. It's 'feminist,' not obnoxious.The film is carried by excellent performances from the three leading ladies. Carice is truly an extraordinary gem every single time--she's impossibly beautiful AND irresistibly adorable ("cuteiful," I daresay), crazy-good at acting and emoting, graceful, dainty, etc. Her natural wide-eyed innocence and vulnerability can also seep into a character just enough to render her more sympathetic in moments where perhaps the same role, filled by another actress, might not be. Everything she's in is simply so much better than it would be without her. Jelka holds her own alongside her sister and Holly. And Holly? Is every bit as great as you'd naturally anticipate, in the role of the mother who's definitely not what anyone expects. I found myself wondering whether these characters might in any way connect with the van Houtens' real-life personalities and relationship. It's a journey of self-discovery, bonding, learning, love, and growth, and things develop quite interestingly as we learn more and more of Jackie. The drama is amped up by such debacles as running out of gas in the middle of the desert, a terrifying snakebite, being attacked by rapists, the sisters' personal problems, and so on, while the end takes an unforeseen turn. I'd have liked it if both sisters got to do karaoke, since Carice sings wonderfully as well, but that's not an inherent quibble with the script, which gave Sofie her own rewards.This is also the kind of film whose glorious scenery and RV theme spark in me nostalgia for family vacations and road trips, and stoke my own sense of wanderlust. It's gorgeous and should definitely be on people's watchlists.

James Moriarty (The spoiler within this review is not too bad. I think you can read this review instead of the wikipedia-summary before watching the movie without getting disappointed. Perhaps it even increases your "adventure".)On the surface this move seems to deal with two sisters having a great adventure on the road and leaving their old lives behind. Already within the first minutes you can see typical patterns; both sisters struggle with their individual lives. The older one is egocentric and career focused, the younger one seems to have deep problems in her current relationship. As soon as they viewer gets to know that both of them are going to have a road trip, the spectator can imagine that this will change both lives and characters. This pattern has always been present in movies, from present to past. (Just as in Despicable Me, The Intouchables, Cruel Intentions,… to list a few examples.)In my point of view, the movies subject is on a different level. Beyond the obvious plot, it deals with the family-ideal as it exists and especially with the relations between its members. Whilst the viewer gets comfortable with the situation, the ending questions which connections and what behavior a family member has to fulfill. And I'm pretty sure that the writers even had some thoughts which didn't come to my mind yet. Furthermore, I think that the spectator has to be concerned with this question before watching the movie. Otherwise it's going to be clumsy and sometimes boring.Besides, the music and the landscape pictures are beautiful. (Concerning the booklet and the movie's title… well, too bad they won't reach the expected audience.)

markyd-329-720968 There are excellent performances by the 3 actresses here. Holly Hunter gives a mysterious and intense performance as the fabled and unknown mother, since the daughters grew up in the Netherlands and mom, a surrogate mother, lives in New Mexico. (These are not spoilers since this part of the plot is laid out within the first few minutes of the movie, and reported elsewhere.) There are some nice insights into the lives of twin sisters growing up without a mother, since their parents are 2 men. There is no political or moral statement about this, just a natural occurrence without a woman in their lives. The intriguing thing is how both sisters reacted quite differently. As the plot moves along, these differences are fleshed out. They must also confront their childhood fantasies about "Mother" when they come into contact with the wonderfully strange Hunter character. The cinematography is delicious, given the New Mexico locations.Though this is an unconventional reunion story, Adoptees, Birth Mothers and others who wound up in families by non-conventional means will share in the sense of loss these sisters have experienced as well as the inner journey they both must navigate. However, the plot itself crashes along in a nonsensical way at times, and as things build towards a perceived happy ending, the contrived action overwhelms! In such a short period of time, insights and redemption and connection and breakthroughs and awakenings and, etc ..., they come so fast and furious that the "heart string pulling machine" was on overdrive as the plot becomes gratuitously formulaic.However, during this time when I wanted to walk out of the movie, others were crying and cheering, so you may see it differently.Other plot devices used in this movie will have to go uncritiqued because of spoiler issues.

blogurious Road-movies can be fun depending on the depth of the story and the journey there and back might even leave you begging for more. "Jackie", however, is an insipid excursion into boredom city, where the waiting-for-something-to-happen is the only thing actually happening. We've all been on that road before, looking for that something meaningful we think we lost and finding it after a long search may not bring the satisfaction we were expecting. It's not a long movie, but the slow pace and lack of rhythm makes it the perfect sleeping medicine. Unfortunately you realize you're still in the theater, so snoozing through the credits might not look very nice. The story is not so bad, but the fact that it takes so long for everything to wrap up makes this movie quite a pain to watch.