★★½ The Joy Luck Club

[Gino: 2.0, TwoShoes: 2.5]

Gino says: "I was expecting more because I remembered that this was a huge word-of-mouth success back when it was released in theaters... It felt like it must have been a labor of love to make, and the stories were worth telling. But the presentation, I thought was amateurish. Not so much the cinematography, but the over-use of flashbacks and especially verbal narration -- a pet peeve for me, because an astutely made film can really communicate what people are feeling and doesn't have to straight-out tell you. My guess is, if you are still interested, read the book."