I was so impressed by If I Were You at the Palm Springs Film Festival that I expected to hear a lot more about it. Alas, it disappeared into the esteemed Lorber DVD ranks, where to our relief and delight it can still be found. It deserves a large-screen rep.

Writer/director Joan Carr-Wiggin wrote a brilliant screenplay and directed a richly nuanced cast to bring it to impeccable life.

The plot is an inventive symphony of triangles. Madelyn (Marcia Gay Harden) spots her lying husband Paul (Joseph Kell) out with his bimbo mistress Lucy (Leonor Watling). After witnessing their quarrel Madelyn follows the apparently suicidal Lucy to her flat. Though herself heartbroken she consoles the girl and settles into a friendship in which -- at Lucy's suggestion -- each will count on the other to direct them through their present crisis. The girl has lost her lover and the woman seems to have lost her husband, but Lucy doesn't realize Madelyn is her Paul's wife. As Lucy doesn't know who Madelyn is, neither does Madelyn's demented mother. Nor, for that matter, does Paul, who is jealous and indignant when he takes her mysterious calls from Lucy to be from Madelyn's imagined lover. Nor does Madelyn yet realize who Madelyn is. That discovery will come when the business woman and homemaker steps out of her habitual roles and plays -- Queen Lear.

The rom-com element takes a sharp turn when Madelyn slips into a new relationship with Derek (Aidan Quinn),whose father died in the same home and at the same time as Madelyn's mother. It begins in the nursing home waiting room in the shadow of death: "When was our last first kiss and did we even know it was our last?" Their relationship blossoms over ice cream in a wintry cemetery. In him she finds an understanding, joy and devotion long gone form her marriage.

That cemetery image of rebirth confirms the function of the amateur theatre group's production, where a troupe of well-meaning incompetents are saved by Lucy's dippy Fool and Madelyn's heartfelt Lear -- and the play saves them. The play harnesses Madelyn's emotions and carries her through her heartbreak when Lucy turns against her and wins Paul away. Of course, Lucy understands Lear because she too has been maddened by losing everything she thought she had. Like Lear, Madelyn -- but also Lucy, Paul and Derek -- have grown to understand themselves better as a result of their adversity. For Lucy and Madelyn, the play has illuminated their selves and their lives, by giving them a detached yet engaging perspective on their personal dilemmas. Initially they helped themselves by taking the other's advice, which each developed by pretending to be the other. Then they sank/recovered themselves in their Shakespeare roles. A Lear speech carries Madelyn through her mother's funeral. Taking on a serious role gives Lucy the confidence to leave not just her bimbo life and callow ambition but her illusions about Paul. Both women get a new self-respect from the stage. For more go to www.yacowar.blogspot.com.

If I Were You (2012)

Be careful—the first twenty minutes of this movie is so bad (or bad seeming) with improbable dialog and kind of "stupid" characters (and maybe inept actors). Or so it all appears. Keep watching. This smooths out quickly, and you get used to the farcical style, so that by the end it all seems normal and pretty fun.

The idea is simple, and explained really well in the movie. Two women find they can't make good decisions for themselves, so they agree to make decisions for each other. Big stuff, like whether to date someone, or what to say to end a relationship. And so when a biggie comes up they have to call the other person for instructions.

This is tied together brilliantly by a simple first scene (which doesn't give much away, but skip this paragraph if you want the first five minutes of the movie untouched). One woman sees her husband cheating on her with the other (younger) woman. The older woman then sees the younger buy the stuff for a suicide, so follows her to save her. The younger woman thinks this is absolutely beautiful (which it is). And the friendship and the pact are formed.

But of course there is this secret lingering, and a husband who calls (and gets calls from) the two women for different reasons.

As you can imagine, the complications are hilarious.

The other theme that gets going is King Lear, the play, and how the two women get involved with that and why. It's a nice layer that actually doesn't get used very well until near the end when the older woman gives a eulogy quoting the Shakespeare she's been learning. The fellow actors are all terrible on purpose, but they are also thin and clumsy in the movie, especially the director who overacts to distraction.

By contrast, our two women play their roles to a kind of comic perfection. The older, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is actually the key protagonist, and is wonderful. Her younger friend, Leonor Watling, is terrific, too, and a perfect complement. Whatever the other outcomes of the movie, you end up hoping these rivals become good friends.

"If I were You" is a frustrating film to watch, though I do recommend it. Why frustrating? It's because it is almost like two or three different portions of films tossed together--and this is disconcerting. For example, the film starts off as a funny little comedy but then later it's depressing and maudlin and later it's a romance! I really wish the film had maintained a tighter focus--perhaps then it would have made money. Still, with some wonderful acting from Marcia Gay Harden and many wonderful moments, it is still very good.

The film begins with a woman (Harden) discovering that her husband is cheating on her. However, in a weird (and funny) twist, she sees the mistress about to kill herself and must intervene. No matter how much she hates her, she has some compassion and won't just stand back and see her die. Soon, in a weirder twist, the two become very good friends--though the mistress has no idea that her new friend is her lover's wife! There is MUCH more to the film than this--and as I said before, the film has great difficulty maintaining focus in style or plot. It's a shame, as the film is VERY funny in places.

So would you like my advice? Well, you are reading this, so I assume you do. First, don't let kids watch the film--it's just too adult. Second, watch it if you are willing to look over the uneven bits, as there is so much good in this one.

By the way, if you like this film, try watching Harden in "Canvas"---another small and overlooked film in which her acting really, really shines.