The movie takes a look at two English childhood friends, Holly (Michelle Williams of Dawson's Creek) and Marina (Anna Friel), from 1973 through 2001. The girls are soul mates and closest of friends although once they hit puberty, they start drifting apart and developing agendas which ultimately prove damaging to both of them. Holly is the book smart girl who is generally quite and reserved while Marina is a freespirit who does as she wishes, no matter who it hurts. The movie looks at the relationship between the girls in segments, typically set years apart, as they grow into unique individuals but the director also shows them as two parts of a whole, in an imperfect if interesting fashion.

I liked the almost surreal vision of the leads from the get go until some time after they compete for a young college professor (Kyle MacLachlan). After that, the movie seemed to get tied down in the drudgery that is real life and all its complications. The acting by the cast seemed solid, although MacLachlan was one of the few who could've phoned in his role, and believable yet the script lacked something to focus on more often than not.

The movie also seemed to sugarcoat some issues that I doubt would've worked out as such in a real setting. From the perceived cheating on one another to the ultimate moving away, I think the movie didn't have the legs needed to insure any kind involvement on the part of the audience. As an emotional roller coaster though, it was fine.

That said, it did get me thinking about long term friendships and how my own life has been impacted by things that've happened to me. As such, the movie gets some credit as being more than just a "sit and stare" experience as far too many movie tend to be these days. While not exactly a classic movie, it's easily worth a Rental with fans of Williams likely to find it even more worthy of their dvd collection.

Picture: The picture was presented in it's original 2.35:1 ratio Anamorphic Widescreen. The fleshtones looked good but the blacks weren't perfectly black. There was some moiré effects too but they weren't frequent and I was less enthused with the grain and slightly soft look than that.

Sound: The audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital with a lot of clarity for the vocals. The music was great-and as varied as the time periods it was drawn from-although the separation of channels on the vocals were not as well handled. In general, it was solid but not great.

Extras: trailers

Final Thoughts: I'd list this as a "chick flick" if such a category existed on the website and that'd be a better determination as to how highly most would rate it. I think it's worth a rental since it did provide some insight into the problems of relationships but it also provided a lot of subtle humor too. Not a bad movie to watch with a loved one while cuddled up on a couch.