Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (2000)

8.0 Popcorn boxes

I'll confess:  I thought that this film with the long title was a romantic comedy.  It's about as far from a romantic comedy as you can get, and not have explosions.

This is a loose collections of mildly interwoven stories centering around several women.  It's presented in a number of chapters, each featuring one or two female protagonists

The film begins with Kathy Farber (Amy Branneman), a lonely homicide detective, investigating the apparent suicide of a young woman.  We quickly change pace, and go to the home of Dr. Elaine Keener, a lonely doctor who is caring for an elderly woman who cannot manage on her own.  She's visited by a tarot card reader, Christine Taylor (Calista Flockhart).

The next story involves Rebecca Haynon (Holly Hunter) who is a lonely bank manager.  She encounters a homeless woman who unsettles her.  She has a married lover, but meets and beds a co-worker, Walter (Matt Craven).

Next we encounter Rose (Kathy Baker), a women on a second career as an author of children's books.  She's a lonely single mother whose a bit too close to her son. and is unduly interested in her new neighbor.

We learn more about Christine Taylor (Flockhart) in the next story.  Her partner Lily (Valerie Golino) is dying, probably of cancer.  Her sensitive nature is often tested by Lily, who has nothing emotionally to lose.

Police detective Kathy Farber, lives with her blind sister Carol (Cameron Diaz).  Kathy is highly protective of her sister, but Carol is more fearless.  Walter (Craven) re-enters the picture when he goes out with Carol. 

The film ends with Dr. Keener goes to a bar, and meets Walter,

The premise of the movie is fine; interwoven stories don't happen a lot in film, and this one ties together neatly.  It's written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, who's a producer, writer, director, and cinematographer.  His background is mainly in television and in web series.

This is not a happy film.  As you can tell by my plot synopsis, this is a film about lonely, struggling women.  It's worth the time watching it.  The acting is uniformly good; in fact Holly Hunter (who has never looked better) was nominated for an Emmy (since it went directly to cable).

Rated PG-13 for mature themes and some sexual content.