A mixed bag...

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2009)

Right off let me say that Isabelle did a fantastic performance with her role as Esther. She has a lot of depth for someone so young. All the actors did a commendable job with the material they had.
My problems were with the script and directing/production. I read others say the movie had the guts to go in a direction uncharted. While I thought the so-called "surprise" was novel, they seemed to have done a cop-out at every opportunity they could to avoid any controversy.
If you removed the few bloody scenes, it was nothing more than a Lifetime Channel movie about a family needing counseling. Nothing after the surprise has not been done before and done better.
Their decision to make the final scenes in such dark settings was contrived, frustrating and deliberate. It was actually hard to see and follow what was even happening at the theater I attended !! It's difficult to go into details as I do not want to give any spoilers here, I'll reserve that for the Forum board. Parts were fun,, parts were frustrating and the sum was disappointing..