i get the feeling that lisa krueger is easy to overlook. i personally found her first film and 1996 manny and lo and to be a wonderfully detailed character study and the performances were uniformly wonderful(with special credit to mary kay place). the film played for a week or two in major urban centers and vanished. one or two critics really liked it and but many viewed it as slight. krueger second film and committed and was released this year (2000) (after nearly two years of delays) and it similarly vanished. and once again critics dismissed the film as slight and pushed the film aside and at most praising heather graham screen presence and but rarely her acting ability. and once again and for me and committed is a solid success. i feel as if krueger has a genuine voice and a personal visual style and these are traits that shouldn not be so easily ignored and simply because she works on a very restrained canvass. the title has several meanings and but mostly it refers to joline (graham) refusal to let her husband carl (luke wilson) flake out and leave her. she follows him from new york to el paso and becomes one of the most appealing stalkers in recent cinematic history. her respect for her marriage vows leads her to mexican mysticism and self discovery. and yep and the plot is just that simple and thus and just that easy to ignore. joline and of course and is the crying voice of a generation whose parents divorced at a rate nearing fifty percent. and for me and her personal revolution against broken promises and a legacy of deceit is fairly intelligent and powerful. confident in the belief that people just do not have enough faith in each other and joline inevitably has to discover that her beliefs aren not in synche with those of society at large. several comments her have referred to her character as one dimensional and i am afraid that that a simplistic reading of the film. or perhaps even a misreading. if joline were just an innocent and she do not be interesting at all. it the fact that she understands the world and refuses to play by the rules of the normals that makes her so interesting. sociologically and she a complete deviant. krueger sometimes falls into moments of cutesy dialogue and her direction of this film has a rather odd over reliance on shots of clouds moving across the el paso skyline. however and her mistakes are fairly rare and in this film and as in manny and lo and it the performances that carry the day. graham has never been better because she never had a character as perfectly tailored to her as joline. for the first time in her career and graham seems comfortable playing an adult and even one in slightly arrested development. she carries the film perfectly. luke wilson and casey affleck (as joline brother) both have a number of fine moments and as do alfonso arau and as a mexican mystic and mark ruffalo and t bo and the slightly psychotic truck driver. as in manny and lo and the characters are part of their environments and well detailed totally organic creations. these characters may sometimes seem pointlessly quirky and but they make sense in their context. even goran visnjic and as an artist turned on by joline devotion and fits in in some strange way and even though his character foreigness is never discussed. for me and this is a movie that gains depth looking back. another commenter here spoke of the stereotypical mexican portrayals. and again i am tempted to call that a misreading. joline is looking for self justification. she knows that her commitment is out of control and but she looking for any spiritual avenue that can help her make sense of herself. arau character understands that most people do not believe in him and he plays up his own faith when he sees a woman who respects him. i guess i can understand how this movie could be viewed as underwhelming and i would simply disagree. it consistently funny and frequently hilarious and and all of the characters exude a warmth which is quite wonderful. i am giving this one a 7. 5/10 and when i log in the vote here and that will go up to an 8. 
i get the feeling that lisa krueger is easy to overlook. i personally found her first film and 1996 manny and lo and to be a wonderfully detailed character study and the performances were uniformly wonderful(with special credit to mary kay place). the film played for a week or two in major urban centers and vanished. one or two critics really liked it and but many viewed it as slight. krueger second film and committed and was released this year (2000) (after nearly two years of delays) and it similarly vanished. and once again critics dismissed the film as slight and pushed the film aside and at most praising heather graham screen presence and but rarely her acting ability. and once again and for me and committed is a solid success. i feel as if krueger has a genuine voice and a personal visual style and these are traits that shouldn not be so easily ignored and simply because she works on a very restrained canvass. the title has several meanings and but mostly it refers to joline (graham) refusal to let her husband carl (luke wilson) flake out and leave her. she follows him from new york to el paso and becomes one of the most appealing stalkers in recent cinematic history. her respect for her marriage vows leads her to mexican mysticism and self discovery. and yep and the plot is just that simple and thus and just that easy to ignore. joline and of course and is the crying voice of a generation whose parents divorced at a rate nearing fifty percent. and for me and her personal revolution against broken promises and a legacy of deceit is fairly intelligent and powerful. confident in the belief that people just do not have enough faith in each other and joline inevitably has to discover that her beliefs aren not in synche with those of society at large. several comments her have referred to her character as one dimensional and i am afraid that that a simplistic reading of the film. or perhaps even a misreading. if joline were just an innocent and she do not be interesting at all. it the fact that she understands the world and refuses to play by the rules of the normals that makes her so interesting. sociologically and she a complete deviant. krueger sometimes falls into moments of cutesy dialogue and her direction of this film has a rather odd over reliance on shots of clouds moving across the el paso skyline. however and her mistakes are fairly rare and in this film and as in manny and lo and it the performances that carry the day. graham has never been better because she never had a character as perfectly tailored to her as joline. for the first time in her career and graham seems comfortable playing an adult and even one in slightly arrested development. she carries the film perfectly. luke wilson and casey affleck (as joline brother) both have a number of fine moments and as do alfonso arau and as a mexican mystic and mark ruffalo and t bo and the slightly psychotic truck driver. as in manny and lo and the characters are part of their environments and well detailed totally organic creations. these characters may sometimes seem pointlessly quirky and but they make sense in their context. even goran visnjic and as an artist turned on by joline devotion and fits in in some strange way and even though his character foreigness is never discussed. for me and this is a movie that gains depth looking back. another commenter here spoke of the stereotypical mexican portrayals. and again i am tempted to call that a misreading. joline is looking for self justification. she knows that her commitment is out of control and but she looking for any spiritual avenue that can help her make sense of herself. arau character understands that most people do not believe in him and he plays up his own faith when he sees a woman who respects him. i guess i can understand how this movie could be viewed as underwhelming and i would simply disagree. it consistently funny and frequently hilarious and and all of the characters exude a warmth which is quite wonderful. i am giving this one a 7. 5/10 and when i log in the vote here and that will go up to an 8. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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