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Carolina

2003, Movie, PG-13, 98 mins

Carolina: Review

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Welding lonely-hearts melodrama to Southern-fried domestic comedy, this direct-to-video mongrel steals liberally from STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989) and SWEET HOME ALABAMA (2002). Raised by the eccentric Grandma Mirabeau (Shirley MacLaine), Carolina Mirabeau (Julia Stiles) is more level-headed and functional than her colorful relatives. Unlike her papa, Ted (Randy Quaid), who fathers children in different states, or Aunt Mary (Jennifer Coolidge), who toils as a high-class hooker, Carolina holds a steady job as a coordinator for a TV dating program. In her personal life, well-organized Carolina never hangs onto a beau and misinterprets the magnetism she feels for her L.A. neighbor, Albert Morris (Alessandro Nivola), a romance novelist. Maybe Carolina's too busy bailing out her half-sisters to get her love life in order: When she isn't steering Georgia (Azura Skye) through out-of-wedlock pregnancy, Carolina provides a sounding board for Maine (Mika Boorem), who is obsessed with winning the lottery. Eventually, Carolina's pushy relatives call her once too often at work, and she gets fired. Prospective TV contestant Heath Pierson (Edward Atterton) sympathizes with pink-slipped Carolina and asks her out. The buttoned-down Brit is suave, solvent and gaga for Carolina. One would think her platonic pal, Albert, would be happy for her. Jumping the gun, Carolina invites Heath to a typical Mirabeau holiday dinner. It's a case of love me/love-my-family, and if Heath bows out, Carolina could wind up a spinster, guesting with her eccentric relatives on "The Jerry Springer Show." Borrowing second-hand life experiences from sitcoms and talk shows, crass screenwriter Katherine Fugate crucifies trailer trash. Saddled with a gimmicky script, director Marleen Gorris (who helmed ANTONIA'S LINE, winner of the 1995 Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar) pushes the cast to manic mugging that suggests a shared attention-deficit disorder. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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