ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Reviews 

I’M YOUR WOMAN – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , ,
0 Flares 0 Flares ×

After firmly establishing herself as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Emmy-winner Rachel Brosnahan goes for a total change-of-pace in Julia Hart’s neo-noir crime thriller about a woman struggling to survive.

Brosnahan plays Jean, a sheltered suburban housewife whose husband Eddie (Bill Heck) surprises her with a baby. Unable to have children of their own, Eddie ‘acquires’ one, and Jean knows enough about her thieving husband not to ask too many questions.

“It’s all worked out,” he tells her. “He’s our baby.”

Problem is: after Eddie screws up a robbery and disappears, his ‘associate’ Cal (British-Nigerian actor Arinze Kene) shows up with a tote bag of cash, telling Jean they must leave her spacious house and go on the run with the crying infant, whom she’s named Harry.

“I’ve never been on my own,” she naively explains to Cal, as they flee from vengeful gangsters.

Striving for some sense of independence, Jean’s road trip as a fugitive includes an interlude in a remote cabin where she learns how to hold and shoot a gun, a skill that will later subsequently come into play.

That’s where she meets and intricately bonds with savvy Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), her son Paul (Da’Mauri Parks), and Cal’s father Art (Frankie Faison). who have already forged a connection with her missing husband Eddie.

“I’m so sick of everyone telling me what to do,” once-helpless Jean eventually decides, ready to muster the strength to reclaim her own life, heeding Cal’s advice: “Don’t look back…”

While striving for ‘70s authenticity, writer/director Julia Hart’s compelling female-centric character-study, co-written with her husband Jordan Horowitz, is filled with loopholes. Like how does Jean acquire so many changes of clothes since she didn’t have time to pack a suitcase? And why is a pivotal character inexplicably killed off-screen?

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, I’m Your Woman is a subtle, surprisingly unpredictable 6, streaming on Amazon Prime.

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 0 Flares ×

Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.