Review: The Perfect Family

Kathleen Turner stars as Eileen Cleary, a devout Catholic, loving wife and doting mother.  She spends her days helping out at the church, serving communion and bringing food to the less fortunate.

One day her priest (Richard Chamberlain) tells her that she's been nominated (by him, I believe) for "Catholic Woman of the Year" a very daunting competition involving a home visit by a bishop, letters of recommendation from her family and a pristine family life.

Well, two out of three might not be so bad.

You see, Eileen has been living a lie.  Her family isn't as clean and pure as she so desperately wants them to be.  And she wrestles with that fact as the competition hangs over her.  The movie depicts her constant struggle between being devout and saintly and coming to terms with her family's collection of "sins".

It's lighthearted and - I'm pleased to say - entertaining.  I've often struggled with Kathleen Turner's raspy voice, but found her to be quite amusing in this film.  She does a great job as the matriarch who tries so hard to cover up everything with a smile and a white lie.

I had feared it would be akin to The Family Tree, which also dealt with a dysfunctional family, but this one - written, produced and directed by women - had a much better feel and flow to it.

The cast is stellar.  Aside from Kathleen Turner and Richard Chamberlain, there's Zoey Deschanel, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Pena and Michael McGrady.

It takes place in Chester, NJ.  However, it was filmed in Los Angeles, which was somewhat disappointing, since Chester is about 30 minutes from the cinema.

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