White Oleander (PG-13) ★½

Review Date: October 11th, 2002

Based on the novel of the same name by Janet Fitch, White Oleander does its best to capture the essence of the story about a young girl who's sent to a series of foster homes after her eccentric mother is imprisoned for a crime of passion. Unfortunately, some stories are better left on the page.

Story

White Oleander focuses on teen beauty Astrid Magnusson (Alison Lohman) and her equally beautiful mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), an accomplished--if self-centered and manipulative--artist who tends to drag her daughter, a budding artist in her own right, into her own neuroses. To Astrid, however, her mother is a goddess--at least until police charge Ingrid with poisoning her lover in a fit of jealousy and she is sentenced to life imprisonment. Astrid is immediately placed into the foster care program, and each new home presents a different set of rules for the young girl. There's life with Starr (Robin Wright Penn), an alcoholic-turned-born-again-Christian who becomes violently jealous of Astrid. There's life in a child-welfare institution where Astrid meets Paul (Patrick Fugit), a comic book artist with whom she immediately connects. Then there's life with Claire (Renee Zellweger), a lonely woman who can't have children of her own and whose husband (Noah Wyle) is never home. Claire shows Astrid the kind of genuine love the girl has never experienced, but Ingrid haunts them, needling and sabotaging her daughter's happiness at every turn. Astrid could simply go off the deep end, but instead she becomes more resilient, ultimately reaching a place where she can love her mother without letting her destroy her life. Sapville.

Acting

The acting talent in Oleander is definitely the movie's saving grace. The actresses make the film's trite dialogue almost palatable. Pfeiffer is amazingly beautiful and strong as Ingrid, and she manages to burn the character into our brains even when she's not on the screen. Ingrid's relationship with her daughter is at times hard to watch: Ingrid digs at Astrid to try and control her, but all this really does is expose Ingrid's own insecurities and failings as a mother. Pfeiffer relishes these moments and plays them to their full effect. Playing the other two ''mothers'' in Astrid's life, the always good Penn takes the thankless part of Starr and turns it into something memorable, while Zellweger's expert turn as Claire has a broken-doll quality that perfectly captures the character's fragility. The real dilemma for the film's producers was finding the right Astrid--an actress who could hold her own at the heart of the story--and whose talent would hold up opposite Pfieffer. Lohman was chosen from a cast of thousands and does a fine job playing Astrid; the camera clearly loves her. Still, she needs a little more experience under her belt before she can truly shine. Fugit, who was once the newcomer himself in Almost Famous (and did a much better job the first time out) manages to create a believable rapport with Lohman as her boyfriend, Paul.

Direction

OK, this is a gripe to all Hollywood executives: stop using sentimental material to make major motion pictures, even if it is from a bestselling book. While Fitch's novel tells a moving story, it does not necessarily translate into an inspiring film. Director Peter Kosminsky does his best with Oleander to create a haunting atmosphere, and there are times when the material is elevated, especially in the scenes between Zellweger and Lohman and those that explore the tragedy that befalls them. Yet ultimately, the film plays like an after-school special. This isn't to say an intimate story can't make an interesting movie (The Good Girl and Igby Goes Down are just two examples of what's out there right now), but Oleander fails to engage its audience in any kind of meaningful way.

Bottom Line

We hate to use the term ''chick flick,'' but White Oleander completely fits the bill. You'll enjoy this one more if you watch it on your big-screen TV with your own daughter when it hits Lifetime--and it surely will.