We have a family on a dilapidated farm that matriarch Kathy Bates wants to sell, but her drunken husband (James Woods) is completely unaware of it. Son Henry Thomas seems to want to stay, but is basically non-committal while daughter Kristin Fiorella hates the idea pretty much because she hates everything. This little detail gives us an insight to mother Kathy Bates who seems to understand the reasons why Thomas constantly hassles his sister, pretending to discipline him but secretly laughing inside every time he does something mean to the braying Fiorella. Unbeknownst to everybody, Bates is having an affair with Randy Quaid who seems to be interested in buying the house, and when Woods returns from a drunken spree, he says he's thinking of selling the house as well, only telling Thomas that. So you have a family that doesn't communicate, a situation where violence outside in the community seems to be getting closer, and some characterizations that aren't fully developed.
Why then do I give this a high rating? Simple. Kathy Bates. It's obvious that God looked down on movies and decided that they needed someone to represent real people and brought Kathy Bates from Broadway and let her to winning an Oscar. Not every role she's played has been Annie Wilkes or Dolores Claiborne, but she's a breath of fresh air in presenting characters who could be your next door neighbor and one you gladly have coffee with in the morning. Howell is good as well, and even when he has some ridiculous lines that seem out of place, somehow from him, they seem realistic.
Unfortunately, that doesn't work with Fiorella who snears pretty much all of her lines, and unfortunately, she's not given the best of dialogue either. Every time she gets into trouble, it's because of her mouth, and in fact, her first scene is a 3 minute rant that deserves the reaction that she gets from her brother. The cute little lamb in its minimal footage is far more memorable.
Louis Gossett Jr. As a small role as a bartender, and of course, he makes the most out of even the smallest of scenes. I found that Sam Shepard's plays and the movies based on them are of a certain taste for a certain type of audience, and while I can enjoy the performances, they are sometimes too avant garde to be clear cut and metaphor free. Fortunately, when she's on screen, all eyes are on Kathy Bates, and certainly, she's brilliant even when you don't understand her character's motivations.
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