In Her Shoes (2005)

Can feuding sisters become best friends again?

In Her Shoes is a revealing comedic look into the lives of the Feller sisters Rose (Toni Collette) and Maggie (Cameron Diaz) whose disconnect has gone past sibling rivalry.

At first glance, Rose and Maggie appear to have nothing in common except their parentage and their shoe size. Rose is a lawyer on the rise at a large firm in Philadelphia and Maggie is…well Maggie is pretty. When Rose takes Maggie home to their parents’ house, Maggie is still drunk after celebrating at her high school reunion, stepmother Sydelle (Candice Azzara) tosses Maggie out of the house. Rose begrudgingly allows her sister to stay with her. However, she has rules that she expects sister Maggie follow. Two of the rules are, do not touch anything and do not wear my shoes. Rose makes the mistake of not adding one more rule, “Do not go to bed with my boyfriend.” Maggie finds herself homeless once more when her sister demands that she leave.

As the film develops, it delves into the minds of the sisters and shows us what makes them tick. Rose is smart, articulate and vaguely unhappy and Maggie is a flake who steals money from her family, sleeps around and cannot hold a job. The girls’ dad Michael (Ken Howard) does what he can for his daughters but does not offer any real emotional support.

When Maggie unearths a box of old birthday cards from grandmother Ella, (Shirley MacLaine) it sets off a set of events that changes her life and the lives of those around her. In Her Shoes has been relegated to the “chick flick” genre, not that there is anything wrong with that label, there are some very fine chick flick type movies. In this case, that title does not quite fit. Pay particular attention to the Professor (Norman Lloyd) and Mrs. Lefkowitz (Francine Beers).The professor is a hospital patient and wise Mrs. Lefkowitz is Ella’s retirement community neighbor. These two help to further move this excellent comedy into the drama category.

In Her Shoes is a cleverly written screenplay by Susannah Grant. It is a funny and bittersweet movie about sibling rivalry, misunderstanding, family secrets and finally life’s journey. The movie is based on the Jennifer Weiner novel of the same name. Love interests in the cast are Mark Feuerstein and Jerry Adler.

Rated PG-13

In Her Shoes (Widescreen Edition) Available from Amazon and other sites. Visit the In Her Shoes official web site.