Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 05/29/1998(USA)
Release Date: 01/14/2003
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD5.1/DS
Run Time: 114 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
Actor/director
Forest Whitaker (
Waiting to Exhale) helmed this
romantic drama about a one-time high-school beauty queen who returns to her hometown of Smithville, TX. The
Steven Rogers screenplay begins in Chicago, where blonde
Connie (
Rosanna Arquette, uncredited) appears on a trashy daytime
talk show and tells a nationwide TV audience about her affair with the husband of her best friend,
Birdie Pruitt (
Sandra Bullock). Walking into the ambush,
Birdie is paraded forth for a public humiliation as
Connie's claim is confirmed by husband
Bill (
Michael Paré).
Birdie and her young daughter,
Bernice (
Mae Whitman), then move back to Texas to live with
Birdie's eccentric mother,
Ramona (
Gena Rowlands), a taxidermist who has filled the house with stuffed animals. Since most of Smithville saw the TV show, embarrassment keeps
Birdie sitting around the house in her pajamas; however, her moment of glory as the homecoming "Queen of Corn" has not been forgotten by handyman
Justin Matisse (
Harry Connick Jr.), the first guy who kissed her back in high school, so a romance soon begins. "Just give hope a chance to float up and it will," says
Birdie.
~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide