The Russell Girl (2008)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It is a performances centric movie

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sarah (Amber Tamblyn) left her small town in the Missouri area to live in Chicago. When she was barely out of high school, a tragedy occurred, something Sarah feels was her fault. Her former boyfriend, Evan (Paul Wesley) was heartbroken about the young lady's exit from his life and he moved to Texas, where he became a successful money manager. Although Sarah stays in touch with her parents and younger brother, she remains remote from all who love her for five years. Now, bad news arrives. Sarah learns that she is seriously ill, though doctors tell her she has a chance of recovery. Unhappily, Sarah thinks her sickness is the result of "karma", a tit-for-tat for the accident that happened half a decade ago. So, Sarah heads back to her hometown. Her parents welcome her, but don't give her an opportunity to convey her secret, as they are always rushing here and there. A neighbor woman, Lorraine (Jennifer Ehle) is upset beyond tears, for the tragedy struck her family. No one, not her caring husband or her two teenage sons can help her out of a lingering grief. With Sarah's return, she is shaken to the core. What will be the end result? Meanwhile, Sarah finds that Evan has returned, also, to care for his ailing, widower father. Before long, sparks are flying between them, something Sarah tries to repress since she doesn't know if she will beat her illness. With all of these serious life events unfolding, will there be a way to go beyond the singular happening that changed everyone's lives? This is quite a sensitive film, tackling many deep issues but it is hardly a happy Hallmark movie. Tears will probably fall for all who choose to watch it. The cast is great, with Tamblyn, Ehle, Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio, Wesley and all of the others doing a great job. The setting is likewise wonderful, a beautiful, well-preserved small city with lovely surroundings. Though the plot unfolds slowly and is told with the aid of flashbacks, it still has a huge amount of courage in its presentation. Therefore, although it is part of the Hallmark collection, its not for all viewers. But, its exploration of tragedy, lingering grief, misplaced blame, guilt and other serious issues makes it a cathartic blessing for some. Act accordingly.

If the news is not good ...Of COURSE the news isn't good. This is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production.Sarah Russell is a buyer for Macy's in Chicago. She wanted to go to medical school, but so far she has not been accepted anywhere. But now she may not get the chance to go to medical school anyway. She has Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, and while it can be treated, she needs to act quickly.Sarah goes home, since she has vacation time coming. Once she has returned to her hometown, she meets former boyfriend Evan, who works at his father's gas station. Evan is actually an investment banker in Dallas, but when his father had a stroke, he had to come home temporarily to help out, doing what he could in his other job by means of technology. After a minor accident, Sarah has an excuse to spend time with Evan, who can do the necessary repairs to her car.When Sarah returns to her parents' house, Lorraine from across the street sees her, goes inside and tells her husband "The Russell Girl" is back, in a tone that makes it appear Sarah was part of some scandal years ago. Lorraine, who restores furniture and related items, soon becomes depressed and bitter, and almost incapable of functioning because of migraines. She won't even watch her teenage son playing in an important baseball game.Sarah's parents are happy to see her, and they have a telephone message she believes they would rather not have heard. No, it's not that. She actually has been accepted to Northwestern's medical school. Sarah can't give them the bad news now. There may be more to her refusal to say anything, though.The movie has important messages about forgiveness and dealing with guilt. Amber Tamblyn and Jennifer Ehle both give superior performances. Ehle has the greater challenge because of her wide range of moods, but she also delivers some unexpected moments. Tamblyn also has to show a wide range. Fortunately, a movie that could have been quite depressing has some pleasant moments and even some humor. For example, the girl at the karaoke bar would never make it past Simon Cowell.Young children may be upset by one scene (although the references to cancer would be enough to discourage them anyway), but the event is critical and only implied (the tragic result is mentioned explicitly several times). Brief flashbacks, and one longer one, look like a World Book Encyclopedia illustration of one type of color blindness. It is the long flashback that is the key to the whole movie.It was worthy of the name Hallmark.

While one should not expect an Emmy award winner out of the movies Hallmark typically puts out, "The Russell Girl" was OK entertainment for two hours. I appreciated the lack of long commercial breaks. It was difficult to say if the lead actress, Tamblyn, made the movie slow down in parts or if it was just the script itself. It did seem to drag out as she kept playing a "keep-away" game of her secret from her family.Even though she was relatively young (early 20's) she had not resolved a major event that had happened five years ago, one she ran away from. This movie did fairly well in showing the results of not forgiving as well as the ineffectiveness of running away from a bad situation. It just seemed to take awhile to get to the ending that wasn't a surprise but was nice to see anyhow.The strength of the movie came in giving the audience a chance to examine their own lives, if given the news of having an "aggressive cancer". Would we accept it as some sort of karma for the bad things we have done? Would we try to right past wrongs? How would we spend the little time we have left? Considering the junk that passes for entertainment on TV lately (watching someone strapped to a lie detector for an hour?), I did not have any regrets using up two hours of my life on this movie.(A better Hallmark movie on forgiveness is "The Christmas Gift" with Neal Patrick Harris.)

Although the story is quite interesting, for me it was too similar and predictable; especially towards the end. This movie is just like Candles on Bay Street because for one thing, the main characters are females with cancer; the only difference is that one died and the other lived. I wasn't too keen on the performances though Amber Tamblyn does a fairly nice job than Alicia Silverstone. Aside from that, there's really nothing special about this film. It's just something that's better suited for an episode in a TV drama, nothing more or less. Hallmark has done some good movies, but the end result for this one is simply "meh" at best. Overall, this film is better watched just to pass the time.