My One and Only

Very loosely based on the autobiography of Mr. Tan himself, George Hamilton ("Love at First Bite"), this sweet-spirited story follows the ever more-desperate meanderings of a former Southern belle, played by Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger ("Appaloosa" and "Miss Potter"), who has left her philandering husband, played by Kevin Bacon ("Frost/Nixon" and "River Wild"). She has taken her two endlessly patient teenaged sons, played by Mark Rendall ("Charlie Bartlett") and Logan Lerman ("Gamer") and headed for greener pastures, seemingly unaware that her once-radiant charms have faded over the last 20 years.

With no professional skills to call her own, her game plan is simply to find a new husband. Among the men who pass through her life, we see:

• The aforementioned Mr. Bacon;
• Chris Noth ("Sex and the City");
• Steven Weber (LOTS of TV);
• David Koechner (excellent in "Extract");
• Eric McCormack ("Will and Grace");
• Nick Stahl ("Terminator 3").

Troy Garrity ("Bandits"), finally getting as handsome as his genes would promise (he's Jane Fonda's son), is a hapless highwayman in a great scene on the Mojave Desert. That scene contains the only gunshot in the entire movie and we are sooo proud of the shooter!

No sweaty bodies, no blowie uppie stuff, great ironic dialogue and a perfectly nostalgic evocation of the 50s: fashions, cars, street scenes and movies.

My favorite line owes a debt to George Hamilton's reputation as the man with the perfect tan. After they arrive in Southern California, his fictional mother tells her teenage offspring, "Go to the beach and get some sun. You are as pale as a nun's behind!" And THAT, my friends, is the only off-color comment in this entire movie.