robert-temple-1 This is the only feature film directed by Mary Stuart Masterson, who is better known as an actress. It is a moody film set in an obscure town in America, and the characters in the story are what one could politely call 'significantly boorish' members of a vague, aimless underclass of society. Bruce Dern plays an oafish man so well one worries. In this twilight world of overly 'ordinary people' there lives a young girl who is dying of an incurable muscular wasting disease. She is bravely attempting to finish high school, but can barely stand up or walk. When she walks down the corridor of her high school, she has to lean against the walls to avoid falling. She has no self-pity and she carries on, in her hopelessly crippled fashion, as if she were a perfectly normal person without any disability. Her courage is simply astounding. However, her personality is suffused with such overwhelming melancholy that the story is absolutely heart-rending. She is desperate to know love before she dies, and she seeks it in the arms of a boy played by Aaron Stanford. The young actress Kristen Stewart (then aged 17, but who started in films as a child actress so that she was already greatly experienced) delivers an outstanding performance worthy of several Oscars as the dying girl. You will need lots of tissues or handkerchiefs if you watch this one, because it is one of the great weepies of all time. Masterson has really delivered an overwhelmingly emotional tale, and with Kristen Stewart's central performance, it must be said that this film is a classic.

Matt Hieter I thought it was well done all around. Writing - Screen play, acting, and the casting. It did not blow me away but it did keep me interested in what will happen next.I thought that the story and the characters were believable. Not sure if this is based on a true story or not. But it certainly could all happen.I would recommend this to my family and friends.I never did figure out why it was named the Cake Eaters? If you only watch moral movies - Everyone sleeps with unmarried partners.

j-lacerra In The Cake Eaters we have essentially three stories swirling about, involving two families in a sleepy upstate New York town. The Kimbrough family, which just suffered the loss of its matriarch, is involved in all three, with dad Easy (Bruce Dern) trying to culminate a long-term affair with grandma Kaminski (Elizabeth Ashley), son Guy just returned home to try to put his life together, and youngest son Beagle being introduced to sex by Ashley's granddaughter Georgia Kaminski (Kristen Stewart), a pretty young girl who suffers from a terminal muscular disease.First-time director Mary Stuart Masterson shows a real flare for allowing her story to be related by the characters. She can show a wealth of revelations in brief scenes with no dialog - she allows the camera and the players to tell the tale. Masterson may become a recognized director if she continues along these lines.It is no surprise that Dern and Ashley can act. All supporting cast members are actually first rate. But the real shocker here is Kristen Stewart as the afflicted Georgia, pressing to achieve experiences, including sexual experience, while she can. This actress is no Hollywood cupcake! This is, in my humble opinion, an Oscar-worthy performance. And, given the Academy's predilection for roles featuring challenged characters (ala Rain Man, Ray, My Left foot, etc.), it is a wonder that this great acting job went unnoticed. However, the delayed release of this Indy picture may have foiled that. Thumbs way, way up for Kristen Stewart.The only reason I did not give the entire ten stars is that at 87 minutes, I think Masterson could have padded out the ending a bit longer; I did not want it to end. Recommended!

TxMike For some reason I have always liked Mary Stuart Masterson, even though she never became a "star." But here she shows her low-key approach to directing with this small, intimate picture. I enjoyed it, sort of as a slice of life and coming of age, even for a 70-year-old.Kristen Stewart is teen Georgia, pretty and smart but with a genetic flaw which makes her a bit unsteady on her feet and sound like she is always half-drunk. Plus, she expects her heart to give out at a rather early age. She begins to wonder what life has in store for her. Part of that is wondering what sex is all about. She shares this with her grandmother.The second key character is Aaron Stanford as 20-year-old 'Beagle' Kimbrough, son of the local butcher, and a cafeteria worker at the local upstate New York school where Georgia goes. Beagle is a bit socially challenged, but pretty Georgia takes an interest in him, and at a flea market she asks if he will come over later and help her with her homework.I have been sort of a fan of Bruce Dern, but always found him to be quirky-looking, and he often got quirky roles. But here he is very normal, and good, as Easy, the butcher. His wife had died only a few weeks earlier, his older son showed up after being gone 3 years to pursue an ill-fated singing career, and the strained relationships showed among the three of them.And finally Elizabeth Ashley is Marg, the grandmother of Georgia. It is clear that she and Easy share more than just a passing friendship. SPOILERS: Georgia wants to experience sex while she still can and she picks Beagle. They ride on his scooter out to some cottages where, coincidentally, Marg and Easy had been before, many years earlier. The two of them had a long relationship going, and Easy's "coming of age" at 70 was to realize that he really wanted to marry her.