If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

As a fan of John Sayles and many of the people in this tedious production, I wonder why Sayles would write a story involving a bunch of annoying yacking women I wouldn't want to spent 5 minutes with let alone the length of a movie. It's just a waste of good talent. You know you're in trouble when the most entertaining part of the movie is the brief glimpses of the beautiful locations. If I had a mother like anyone of these women, I would have ran away from home. Daryl Hannah, though lovely was so much better in Kill Bill. Marcia Gay Hardin was excellent in Pollack, but I hated her here. Mary Steenburgan hasn't really done anything good since Time After Time, and Lily Taylor was probably the most interesting of the bunch here, but why bother? It stinks.

I was completely disappointed. The movie seemed contrived and forced. There were too many back stories combined into one, and I found it difficult to concentrate on the story at hand. The ending was far too abrupt. I normally like all of these actresses, but this was not a good movie to show them as a solid cast. I would have liked to see each character fleshed out a bit more.I also agree that it was a completely one-sided view of international adoption. The whole time watching, I had trouble really understanding most of what was going and why characters were popping in and out of the story.

No resolution, no real conflict, or at least not one whose solution we see; enormous talent wasted by appalling direction: Marcia Gay Harden works too hard, ironically unconvincing. The dialogue, a few memorable lines, all derivative ("Pray for Rosemary's baby"?) Instead of a series of visuals leading to something, it was a moving slide show (with terrible camera work) without any development. Some of the situations are confusing and contradictory: when the attorney, Buendía (Armendariz), talks to his sister the motel owner (Moreno), we get the impression he is going to give Nat the baby just to get her off everyone's back. When she leaves, he states she is not getting a baby. At the end, there she is, receiving one. Uh? And Rita Moreno should never again do Spanish dialogue: she sounds as if she is reading and her punctuation is terrible, breaking up phrases at the wrong point, very disconcerting if you speak the language. She also steals scenes like a pro. In the scene where we are trying to focus on the plight of the unemployed man, she keeps tapping her fingers together, thus removing all attention from the poor sap (I wonder what he did off-camera to earn her ire, as she must know exactly what she was doing). If the point is to see the backbiting, it lacks true bite; if the point is to see what these women's lives are like, it's not deep enough. Sayles drags us in all directions and then bounces us off the wall in a dead end. 3/10

A great start to the London Film Festival.You would have to be fairly desperate to go to Mexico from the States to adopt a child. And maybe a similar desperation is needed to put a baby up for adoption, knowing it could go to another country and culture.John Sayles film covers all sides to this cultural and economic problem. While much of the film is understated and not overly impressive, the central female ensemble is very good. It was fascinating seeing Daryll Hannah after all these years; and after The Secretary, I'm a big fan of Maggie Gyllenhall. Mary Steenburgen plays.. well, Mary Steenburgen. All the women are very watchable, and are given space to get emotional without reverting to sentimental melodrama.The film is no cinematic treat, and has little in the way of a full resolution for the characters but its one of the better ensemble pieces I've seen in some time.