Note: Spoilers! And you won't understand much of the what I am talking about if you haven't seen the film.

You know, I was half way through a glowing review of "In the Bedroom" when I realized that the hype the film has been receiving was flavoring my opinion. This happens sometimes, albeit usually when a film is getting glowing reviews, I am often let down by it once I finally see it, even if it might be good. But I so wanted to like "In the Bedroom," and I so like Sissy Spacek, that I think I was allowing the hype and my own fan mentality to flavor my opinion.

This is a re-write.

Something does not jibe in the final 3rd of "In the Bedroom." Either Spacek was the wrong choice to play the role of the mother here or the script lets her down. The film, for me, begins to fall apart when Spacek slaps Marisa Tomei's character. I did not buy that slap for one second. I did not believe that the Spacek mother character would slap Tomei's middle aged battered wife. Period. And she doesn't have to slap her. She could have simply put the headphones back on and ignored her. She could have walked away. She could have done any number of things. The third act of this promising film falls flat.

After the slap, the film has a really muddled segment where Spacek speaks to a friendly priest who tells her a rather contrived story about another mother. I think that scene is supposed to point out how Spacek is rather inconsolable and how no one could possibly have the right thing to say to her. She also gets to, finally, express her anger verbally. But this scene fails because it is so enigmatic that we can't possibly see whatever writer Robert Festinger is trying to get at. Spacek does the best with what she is given but it's really difficult to buy.

Finally, there is the climax. Now, either Spacek was horribly miscast because, in my eyes, the character she brings us is incapable of being conceived to carry the traits that husband Tom Wilkerson accuses her of - or the script is trying to say something more about Wilkerson's father character than it is about Spacek's mother character. The father accuses the mother of numerous traits and failings that we simply haven't seen in her. For example, he accuses her of being unforgiving, but in an earlier scene with Ceila Watson we see that Spacek character can be quite forgiving. Of course, she is also in denial. But she doesn't seem to be this bad person the father accuses her of being. I just don't get it. Did I miss something?

Finally, there is the finale' of the film which reverts to complete hackneyed revenge genre. It just doesn't ring true. And haven't we had enough of these kinds of stories? I'd, for once, like to see a story about the truth of the situation, where someone who is frustrated by the system and, perhaps, completely exasperated by it, deals with that anger and sorrow and despair without resorting to violence. This is the true reality of most people who find themselves in the situation that the parents here do. Most people do not go out and undertake a revenge killing. Rather, they simply live with the frustration. That would be more true and more real. Festinger completely avoids that reality here.

Still, "In the Bedroom" is worth seeing. The first 2/3 of the film are marvelous. Nick Stahl, who played such a disagreeable character in "Bully" in 2001, does a 180 from that role here and presents us with a bright, likeable, attractive young man. When he is lost to us, it does indeed hurt. We feel the pain that his parents do. Meanwhile, Marisa Tomei and Spacek have their best roles in ages. They deserves all the kudos they get. Even though I am unhappy with the destination here, most of the journey with Spacek is quite agreeable.

The direction here, like the script, often seems a bit sated and heavy-handed, but Todd Field's beautiful images, his near-perfect pacing and his ability to allow the story to unfold at its own pace shows a director of much skill and grace at work here. Even his midsection, with its numerous fades to black, fits perfectly into the film and the device is abandoned just about the time it gets irritating, which is also the perfect point in the script to move on.

"In the Bedroom" will be a strong contender come Oscar time. But I'm not sure it will be one of my picks. Maybe I'm just too dense to get it.

Note:

Based on a short story by Andre Dubus. Field co-authored the film's script.

Features a rather odd segment of "The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn"

The film and its script, director and actors were nominated for and won several awards.

Report Card Script: C+ Acting: A- Cinematography\Lighting: B Special Effects\Make Up: A Music: A Final Grade: B-

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