Delayed Reaction: In the Land of Women

The Pitch: Tell me if you've heard this one before. A man moves from the big city, back to his home town in the Midwest to find himself after relationship/career problems.

I think there needs to be a term for this kind of movie since it's so prevalent. Can we call it "Hometown drama" or "Midwest Suburb Porn"?  Whatever it is, there needs to be less of it. In the Land of Women came out in 2007, before the more recent explosion of this type of movie (it's hardly a new idea though), so I'll forgive it a little for being the dozenth type of this story I've come across lately. The movie has nearly every suburban trope imaginable. (Of course Meg Ryan has cancer and her spouse is cheating on her. Might as well have both). I was really bothered by the fact that the movie teased Meg Ryan shaving her head. One of the unwritten rules of movies is that you are only allowed to have a scene with a character, in a moment of reclaiming control of her life, shaving her head in the bathroom, if the actress actually shaves her head. You can't shave a strand then wrap the head in a shawl for the rest of the movie. That's cheating. I did appreciate that Kristen Stewart is in the cool clique. I would've bet money going into this that they would treat her as a loner, reject. She certainly thinks she's that in the movie, but she's also dating the QB of the football team.

I normally find the phrase lazy, but this really is a "white people problems" movie. The thing is, I like Adam Brody enough that I found it pretty watchable. Little bits like when he was giving notes on his soft-core porn script tickled me just enough to keep going.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend