Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Irresponsible party girl Maggie is kicked out of her father's and stepmother's home—where she lives for free—and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose. After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.
In Her Shoes is a competent, well-acted chick-flick drama based on Jennifer Weiner's novel, elevated by solid performances from Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine. The plot hits familiar sibling-rivalry and family-reconciliation beats without much surprise, and Curtis Hanson's direction is serviceable but visually unremarkable. The dyslexia subplot and Florida retirement-community setting give it some mild distinctiveness, but it remains firmly within the feel-good dramedy formula. The ending delivers the expected emotional payoff warmly enough, though without much resonance beyond genre conventions.