:: In Her Shoes

Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, In Her Shoes is a hilarious and heart-warming film about family and relationships. It’s a drama that explores the relationship between two sisters, Rose (Toni Collette) and Maggie (Cameron Diaz) who at first seem to have nothing in common, except for an 8-and-a-half shoe size.

Like most sibling films, the characters are quite stereotypical. Rose is the ‘older sister’ who is sensible and responsible. Nothing ever seems to happen in her life, which is built around her career as a successful law attorney. Outside of work she is Ugly Duckling-meets-Cinderella and has a low self-esteem about her physical appearance and finds solace in buying shoes, which she rarely gets a chance to wear. Maggie, on the other hand, is the ‘younger sister’ who is daring, sassy and knows how to flaunt her good looks - including her sister’s shoe collection. Lacking in intellectual confidence, she can’t hold a job and instead relies on her sexual prowess to get through life. Despite their differences, however, Rose and Maggie are much the same: they both are lacking in confidence and are co-dependant on one another.

But when the pair fallout, each sister is suddenly left to her own devices and is forced to embark on a life-changing journey that leads to an altogether new self-discovery. This ultimately leads to the discovery of their elegant grandmother Ella (Shirley MacLaine) who reunites the sisters.

Directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential and 8 Mile), the film has a great screenplay that delivers a lot of witty and memorable laugh-out-loud moments. Although the story is, to a degree, formulaic and predictable there is a lot of character development and complexity to each character which is what makes them real, and all the more lovable because you can relate to them in some shape or form.

Toni Collette’s performance brings to the film a quiet strength and nervous energy while Cameron Diaz brings a lot of fun and girly glamour to the film (she does a lot of strutting around in skimpy clothing). And Shirley MacLaine is as graceful and poised as ever. The result is an entertaining film that runs for more than two hours, but you’ll be wondering where the time went!