That mighty Soderbergh feeling.

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2000)

A sensible female detective film that is solidly based on plausibility (well, slightly, I'm sure most abandoned mothers would agree). Plot perfunctory but fun, acting, especially Julia Roberts, a surprising joy. Main reason the film is a must, of course, is Steven Soderbergh, catching up on Tim Burton as America's greatest director, here enjoying flexing his considerable creative muscles in a populist woman's picture - his 'cubist' editing; his sense of the wide American outdoors and minutae of domestic life (in a hilariously Hollywood version of the working class); his sardonic visual jokery (those skyscraper shots); his continued interest in parents and children (see THE LIMEY, THE GREEN ROOM); his refusal to patronise his heroine.