SUN would appear to be two movies sort of at odds with each other. One is a tale of love's redemption that revolves around the growing affection between an emotionally distraught nurse (Chabert) and her charge, a never-say-die elderly woman (Rowlands) racked with cancer. The other is a ghost story, more or less, as the nurse tries to deal with the murder of her father, a community activist killed by members of the community. Now, without knowing the novel, I would say someone decided to throw a little GHOST WHISPERER into this otherwise straightforward tale of love and compassion. Reason? Chabert played GW star Jen Hewitt's sister on PARTY OF FIVE and also did a spot-on imitation of Hewitt in a recent, spoofy remake of an '80s romantic comedy that stared Hewitt, plus Chabert has even appeared on GW as a guest star with ties to Hewitt. Chabert looks and acts just like Hewitt, only better, and is just as pretty and big-busted. My wife stopped to watch the movie because at first she thought Chabert was Hewitt! Make no mistake: This is a chick flick with no redeeming qualities for the guys. But Chabert is a terrific little actress I happen to admire, and Rowlands is a past master of these roles. She has in fact played this same sort of role in at least two other movies. The ghost angle amounts to little, by the way, and could just as easily have been discarded.
Review of What If God Were the Sun?
