The film starts out very well with Mildred's daughter, a rebellious teenager, leaving her widowed mother's home. Mildred forms a bond with next door neighbor, played in a wonderful performance by Marisa Tomei, a crude low-life with an even lower-life husband. He walks out on her and Mildred agrees to watch their young child while Tomei works.This all sounds good. Mildred finds romance with Gerard Depardieu at a bar while with the Tomei character. Mildred's son and daughter-in-law want her to join them in San Francisco. Fine.Suddenly the writing goes awry. Tomei reconciles with her husband who comes back as a changed man. Mildred suddenly sells her house and by the picture's end, we don't know where she is going to. Also, since the Tomei and Mildred's daughter had so much in common, it would have been nice to see them in the same scenes together.

"Unhook the Stars" is all about Rowlands who plays a middle aged widow with grown kids who wakes up one day to find herself no longer needed as a wife and mother. An uneventful and even character study which builds enough interest in the Rowlands character to make it not too difficult to overlook her supporting cast who play obvious stereotypes, "Unhook..." is a flick with no punchline which plays like a meal with no dessert. The entertainment is in the ride, not the destination. A good slice of mature life flick worth a look.

This is a nice little film that will bring a smile to your face. An excellent character study too, of an aging woman on a crossroads in her life. Gena Rowlands is excellent as that woman, and Marisa Tomei too is good in her usual "on the edge"-performance. Unfortunately, this film has some major flaws. In fact, this film is a bit too "normal" and predictable. I mean, I've seen SHE'S SO LOVELY too, another film by Nick Cassavetes and was surprised to see how edgy and surprising that film was. I guess I expected to see that here too. Also, there were some less convincing characters in this film. It's a shame to see how little Gerard Depardieu gets to do here. He's a great actor(just watch JEAN DE FLORETTE), but in Hollywood he always gets to play the part of "some French/Canadian drifter", most notable for his accent. That's just a terrible waste of talent. And then there was the young Jake Lloyd. Boy, was he unconvincing. There are so many good child actors these days(though some less talented ones too), but young Lloyd here is not one of them (for now) in my opinion. And does that boy ever smile? Not a very likeable character in this film.But anyways, you'll surely like this film. It's not a masterpiece, but if you like the leads(Rowlands and Tomei), you'll be pleased. They carry this a long way. 7/10

I recently purchased this film at a local video store as I am a big fan of Jake Lloyd, Marisa Tomei and Gerard Depardieu. They're all excellent actors with tremendous talent - they all shine in this spectacular comedy. One of the most memorable scenes is when Monica (Marisa Tomei) swears openly to her "date" on the phone with her son J.J. (Jake Lloyd) a few feet away at the dinner table during Thanksgiving (check out the dinner). I mean, what would a movie starring Marisa Tomei be like without having her saying "f***" in it? Honestly. And what about Gerard....how can you not get hungry watching his movies - the man and food, I don't know. He did, of course, a great job as a French-Canadian truck driver. Then there's Jake Lloyd. Does this kid ever not give an excellent performance? I mean really. He shines as sweet little J.J. Also look for other great performances by Moira Kelly, David Thornton, and Bridgette Wilson. Great cast overall. This film was well worth the purchase and just cries out for multiple viewings. However Cyndi Lauper's theme song is terrible. But of course R.E.M.'s "Country Feedback" is always welcome. Terrific film.