Film

Lovely & Amazing

Name: Lovely & Amazing
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: 2002
Cast: Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, Raven Goodwin, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Family drama

A razor-sharp portrait of four women in one family, each wrestling with insecurity, desire, and the gap between who they are and who they think they should be. Nicole Holofcener's film moves between comedy and quiet devastation without flinching, finding humor in desperation and tenderness in failure. It's for anyone who's ever felt like they weren't enough.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like low-key family comedies that find humor in small, awkward moments and let characters stay messy rather than tidy up their problems.

Skip it if you need plot momentum or a clear through-line, since this drifts from one vignette to the next and its sharp, self-absorbed women can wear thin over ninety-two minutes.

What it asks of you: Patience is the currency here: women who are often unlikable before they become sympathetic, moving at an unhurried, conversational pace that rewards close attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Lovely & Amazing

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Mona Lisa Smile2003

Both explore the specific pain of women trying to become the versions of themselves they think the world demands, rather than who they actually are.

Julia Roberts as an art history professor at Wellesley in the 1950s, trying to convince young women that their own desires matter more than their assigned futures. A glossier film than Lovely & Amazing, but grappling with the exact same anxieties about female ambition, self-worth, and the lies women internalize.

But It's sentimental where it should be radical, and the period detail occasionally swallows the emotional truth. It wants to inspire you, which can feel manipulative.

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini as middle-aged divorcés figuring out love again. A smart, funny film about real people with real complications, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener again.

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Celeste & Jesse Forever2012

A divorcing couple tries to stay best friends, only to discover that's emotionally impossible. Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg have real chemistry, and the script captures the ugliness beneath amicable separation.

But It's uneven in tone, and some supporting characters feel sketched in rather than fully realized.

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The Fits2016

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A debut feature about an 11-year-old girl joining a dance team in Cincinnati, told almost wordlessly through movement and observation. Hypnotic and strange, it captures the hunger to belong and the mysterious ways bodies betray us when we're desperate.

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