Review of Hideous Kinky (1999) by Leighton T — 27 Jul 2008

I give Kate Winslet props for doing such a small indie after the massive success of Titanic, and while she certainly is great, the story seems very condensed in its telling. It jumps to make up for time spent elsewhere, feeling it needs to hurry because it's only got so much time left. The ending felt sprung out of nowhere as Bea had just recovered from being sick, and oh, all of a sudden, "we've got the tickets, we need to go home.".

After all that though, I really enjoyed watching this for they low key qualities. Winslet is just amazing to watch. Her simplicity is riveting. The girls who played her two daughters were charming and seemed normal (which, child actors almost always seem to have "kinks"). Said, who played her love interest, was charming in his role and did exactly what he needed to do. The scenery was exiquisite, and being shot in location, the reality of it is very compelling. It's like it's a real story, and not one just being told to you through a camera.