The Footwear Sisterhood

[October 5th, 2005] The allure of the "chick flick"-films like Steel Magnolias and Terms of Endearment that seemingly cater to some feminine sensibility-has long eluded me. Take, for example, the new film In Her Shoes. Apparently, there's something about women and their shoes, and if I'm interpretting the film properly, shoes are some sort of metaphor for female sexuality. Or maybe shoes are some sort of symbolic representation of the vagina. Or maybe it's a bit of both. Honestly, I don't know-I just know that according to this film, shoes represent more than something we wear on our feet.

Adapted from Jennifer Weiner's novel, director Curtis Hanson's In Her Shoes is the sort of film most of the heterosexual men I know won't be rushing out to see unless they're in some semblance of a relationship. The good news, however, is that as far as tearjerking, syrupy-sweet sloppiness goes, there are worst cinematic concessions to be made in order to appease the woman in your life. Toni Collette co-stars as Rose Feller, a straitlaced, bordering-on-dowdy lawyer whose life is interrupted by her younger sister, Maggie (Cameron Diaz). By contrast, Maggie is a hard-partying, nearly illiterate, whorish ditz who uses her sister's shoes without permission (not to mention humps Rose's boyfriend). When Rose finally has enough of her sister's inconsiderate bullshit, she kicks Maggie to the curb. With nowhere else to go, Maggie journeys to Florida to see Ella (Shirley MacLaine), the grandmother she and Rose never knew they had. The film takes a turn as Maggie begins to find herself amid the senior citizens who populate Ella's retirement community, and Rose begins to blossom-pun intended-as she finds love and happiness.

Diaz, in an attempt to prove herself a real actress, is miscast. You can believe her as a shallow party girl, but her moments as the barely-able-to-read tortured soul just doesn't work. Collette, on the other hand, inhabits her role with more believability and conviction. But the real treat of the film is an understated MacLaine, and the supporting cast of senior citizens who provide more of a sense of humanity than the much-younger stars.

On the surface, In Her Shoes comes from a place so unknown to me it might as well be a foreign film. But once you strip away all of Divine Secrets of the Footwear Sisterhood schmaltz, what's left is a not-unentertaining tale of family dysfunction and forgiveness. Of course, on a personal level, I wasn't buying into much of the sentimental sap that was being peddled, or the isn't-it-wonderful-the-way-things-work-out fantasy. But as a guy watching the film, it didn't offend my testo-sensibities to the point of agonizing discomfort. In fact, the most negative feeling about the film was the sense of lost opportunity I felt watching it. Had I agreed to see this film on a date, I could have scored so many points. Which, from an I-really-dig-chicks standpoint, is the most important thing to know about In Her Shoes.