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In the Land of Women

In the Land of Women is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and written by Jonathan Kasdan and stars Adam Brody, Kristen Stewart and Meg Ryan. The film premiered in the United States on April 20, 2007.

In the Land of Women
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Kasdan
Written byJonathan Kasdan
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPaul Cameron
Edited by
Music byStephen Trask
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • April 20, 2007 (2007-04-20)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million[1]
Box office$17.6 million[2]

Plot

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Young, soft-core porn movie writer Carter Webb lives in Los Angeles. His young, starlet girlfriend Sofia breaks up with him.

Carter later goes to be his supposedly dying grandmother's caretaker in Michigan, partly to try to heal and also to write.

Upon arrival, Grandma Phyllis does not initially recognize him, and he sees she needs help. She has not been eating properly nor keeping her home tidy. After a few phone calls with his mother and his boss, Carter begins to clean up the house.

Across the street, Paige and Lucy return home from school. Their mother Sarah calls Lucy to the kitchen and tells her she has found a lump in her breast. Shocked, Lucy wants to go with her mother when she receives her results, but Sarah refuses.

Lucy watches Carter take out huge bags of trash, snickering. Before he can talk to her, Sarah comes out with their dog, Bozo, introducing herself. They talk before Lucy's friends arrive, and Sarah goes back inside. Lucy and Carter meet, and she asks Carter not to tell her parents that she smokes.

The next morning, Sarah arrives at Carter's doorstep, bringing cookies and inviting him to walk Bozo. They chat about their lives. Carter mentions Sofia, wondering about his love for her. He believes that the love letters he has written for Sofia contain his best work.

Returning home, Sarah asks Lucy to invite Carter out to take his mind off Sofia, but she refuses, and her husband agrees. Sarah leaves the room, frustrated, going to her bathroom to take painkillers.

The next day, while on a run, Carter remembers the time he had with Sofia: from their first kiss to their breakup. Distracted, he runs into a tree and passes out. When he wakes up, Lucy is standing over him. She gives him a ride home and then invites him to a movie. Carter tells her to ask her parents permission to take him out on a school night, as they normally would not. Lucy agrees and goes back inside.

Shortly thereafter, Sarah invites Carter on another walk. This time, she leads him into a patch of forest. She admits that her husband is having an affair and that she does not love him – at least not the way Carter loved Sofia. They hug and leave to run errands together.

Carter goes with Lucy and Paige to the mall to see a movie. While there, they see adverts portraying Sofia in one of the shops windows, and Paige, a fan of hers, remarks Sofia is now dating Colin Farrell, upsetting Carter. They also awkwardly run into Eric, a schoolmate of Lucy, who works at the Orange Julius shop.

Afterward, Lucy brings Carter to her high-school football field because he earlier expressed curiosity about the typical high school experience, as he attended an exclusive private high school. There, she confesses to be sort of dating the high school quarterback Gabe, who is quite arrogant. However, they have not kissed yet. Meanwhile, Gabe's best friend Eric is the opposite of Gabe; soft and shy. Lucy reveals she knows her father is having an affair, but believes her mother does not know.

Four days later, outside in a pouring rain, Sarah, in tears, tells Carter she has breast cancer, and will have a mastectomy the following morning. Carter promises her "you're going to be alright", and they passionately kiss.

Days later, Lucy convinces Carter to come to a party with her for support after discovering that Gabe hooked up with her best friend. During the party, Gabe punches Carter, but then Eric steps in, telling everyone at the party that Gabe is the one who screwed up, and how amazing Lucy is. After the party, Lucy tells Carter about an embarrassing incident she had, at age 11, with a neighborhood boy - sex play - resulting in Lucy's distrust of her mother, not being supportive and understanding Carter tells Lucy that sex-play is normal, that it wasn't her fault, that life if tough, and her mother loves her. Lucy kisses him. Sarah sees this, and the next day, when Carter visits to see how Sarah is, she tells him to leave Lucy alone and to never speak to them again. He leaves, after tucking a letter into her purse lying on the hallway table.

Five days later, Lucy goes to see Carter, who tells her he is not the guy for her and if she thought about it, she would realize who is. Sarah gets her cancer treatments and finds out that everything will be alright. Sarah and Lucy talk and start to heal their relationship. Sarah reads Carter's letter which, though similar to a love letter, is more of a "thank you" note. While driving home from the hospital, Lucy goes to the mall to see Eric upon realizing he is the guy.

A day or two later, Carter finds his grandmother, sitting in front of the TV, has died. He goes outside for some air and sees Sarah. She apologizes, and they manage to end their friendship on good terms.

He returns Los Angeles. Later, sitting in the diner where Sofia broke up with him, he's on his laptop computer, trying to finish a script about his grandmother. Conversing with Janey, a friendly waitress, he asks her to read it. She agrees to, but tells him she's a tough critic.

Cast

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Reception

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Commercial

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The film was released on April 20, 2007, in the United States and grossed US$4.7 million in 2,155 theaters in its opening weekend, coming in eighth at the U.S. box office.[3] The film stayed in theaters for 10 weeks and went on to gross $11 million in the U.S., with a combined worldwide gross of $17.5 million.[2] The gross exceeded the film's $10 million budget, making it a moderate box office success.[1]

Critical

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The film received mixed reviews. As of September 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 117 reviews (51 "fresh", 67 "rotten").[4] The critical consensus states, "While pleasantly acted, In the Land of Women is a dramatically stilted film with underdeveloped characters". On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 47 out of 100 based on 29 reviews.[5]

Soundtrack

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Main article: In the Land of Women (soundtrack)

References

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  1. ^ a b INTERVIEW: Writer-Director Jonathan Kasdan arrives with ‘In The Land of Women’ Behind the Scenes TV. 23 April 2007
  2. ^ a b "In the Land of Women (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  3. ^ "In the Land of Women (2007) - Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  4. ^ "In the Land of Women - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  5. ^ "In the Land of Women (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
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