LeonLouisRicci A Cheesy Chick-Flick that Wimps Out when it Needs to be Wild and Crazy, considering the Trashy and Terror Roots. Jessica Lang pulls out all the Nuances Needed to make the Movie a Guilty Pleasure. Her Character is Guilty of many Horrifying Things.Southern Fried Cooking burnt to a Crispy Critter and the Critters get a more than Needed amount of Focus. It's a Stud Farm as a Setting and Lang's Mother-In-Law from Hell is Stud Crazy with Her now Deceased Husband and Unhealthy and Maniacal Behavior with Her Doting Son.The Movie has No Qualms in going for the Lurid but seems Reluctant to go for Cheap Thrills and it Ends Up not Delivering on the Visceral Needed in this Type of Thriller. Critics absolutely Hated this Mess, but Audiences (especially Females) seem to give it a Pass, perhaps because it Literally Hits Home with the Family Ties, Romantic Relationships, and Pregnancy.Despite all of the Problems the Movie Manages to Rise to Watchability Status, mostly because of Lang and and Gwyneth Paltrow's Interactions. Nina Foch's Down to Earth grounding as a "See All, Knows All" Grandmother also Helps add some Sense of Hope in a Hopeless Situation.But the Movie will have None of that "Hopelessness" Stuff and the Ending is somewhat of a Letdown. Average Soap Opera and Below Average Thriller.

mrlocco An absolutely awful movie I watched only because of Gwyneth Paltrow who I had previously admired greatly. Not so much now. Shame on her for being party to this load of rubbish. It started off quite promisingly, well actually the wheels didn't start coming off until burglary/attack on Paltrow when it was blatantly and painfully obvious that the mother had arranged this. No explanation of the reason for this. Things went rapidly downhill from there, yes the scenery was attractive if you like that sort of thing but credit for that is due to mother nature not the cinematographer. I think the second worst aspect, after the terrible story line, was Lange's acting.Incidentally, Oxytocin is rendered useless in the digestive system and is only effective if absorbed through the mucous membranes or given intravenously, and even then has a half life of 3 minutes I believe, so it would be totally useless taken in food. Also if my mother-in-law had treated me like that when I was in labour and then tried to kill me with a lethal injection I would not have stayed in the house even for a dramatic denouement the next morning.Then the son, after being led around by the nose by the evil mother does a complete about face in the space of a few minutes on the strength of his wifes unsubstantiated accusations.A rubbish movie best avoided.

Denise Steffanus This movie starring Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow has great talent, but the production company obviously spent all its money on the stars' salaries. A film about Kentucky Thoroughbred racing should be filmed in Kentucky, not at a show horse farm in Virginia. The Kentucky Blue Grass region is uniquely identifiable, as is Virginia horse country -- and the two are not interchangeable, even in fiction. It is like making a film about New York City in Los Angeles. Did they think no one would notice? And there are plenty of Thoroughbreds in Virginia, so why did the filmmaker try to pass off big, fat show horses as racehorses? The scene at the horse sale and all its errors are even too ridiculous to mention.The technical adviser on this film was either asleep or inept, because a scene does not pass without a glowing inaccuracy. Especially noticeable to anyone interested in horses who watches this movie (and I can't imagine anyone else would) are the dangerous ways in which the horses are handled, usually by people who are recognizable as amateurs at handling a horse. The most glaring fax pas surrounds the drug oxytocin that Jessica Lange's character removes from the cabinet: the label clearly states "erythromycin tablets." Again, did the filmmaker think no one would notice? Literary license is one thing, but this movie goes way, way beyond that and into the depths of the toilet.

tazmania76_99 Though this movie was somewhat slow and predictable it brings out the worst side of Jessica Lange. She had an outstanding performance as the evil Mother-In-Law to Gweneth Paltrow. I have never seen her in a role as evil as this one. I believe that Gweneth showed the strength and heart of her character. She lost both her parents, was mugged in her own home and then stands up to her Mother-In-Law to prove to her husband what an evil person his mother is. Way to go!!! Personally I liked this movie. What the movie doesn't bring out right away is the lengths that "Martha" will go to take the baby and keep her son on the farm. This movie is one of the best suspense movies that I've seen in a while.