It’s Spring! The shoots are coming up through the warming earth, the buds are forming on the branches, and the sap is flowing. Especially in the sappy “Chosen Family.”
This grotesque “feel good” movie, written, directed and starring Heather Graham (“Suitable Flesh”) is so sweet that it should come with a warning: audience members may suffer from a dangerous level of hyperglycemia.
Ann (Heather Graham) comes from a highly dysfunctional family. Her dad Alfred (Michael Gross – “Tremors”) is a religious fanatic; her mother Dorothy (Julie Halston – “Top Five”) is desperate to make a name for herself in singing; and her younger sister Cleo (Julia Stiles – “Orphan: First Kill”) is a repeat drug rehab resident. All three blame Ann for their problems, while Ann herself flits from boyfriend to boyfriend – most are bad news, but she is even rejecting the good ones.
Ann lives in a fancy waterfront home in Rhode Island, even though she is a yoga teacher with unfilled classes. This is sort of like “Friends,” where the young folks lived in fashionable NYC apartments without a commensurate means of support. Oh, and Heather/Ann makes sure her cleavage is almost always on ample display, even though the other female characters don’t.
The acting is good enough, the screenplay dialogue has its spirited moments, and there are some spot-on references to familial relationships, but Graham simply has not given us likable characters. They are doormats like herself and her romantic interest, Steve (John Brotherton – “The Undertaker’s Wife”), whose seven-year-old-going-on-30 daughter Lilly (Ella Grace Helton – “Hummingbird”) wraps him around her manipulative little finger. She is probably the most interesting character in the piece.
Or they are obnoxious needy creatures like her family. Or they are the very mildly zany friends Ann hangs out with and through whom she meets Steve. Among these is Thomas Lennon, playing Max – a friend who, with his wife, is opening a waterside restaurant. Lennon has penned more amusing screenplays (“Night in the Museum”) and could have added some depth to the script.
Even the music has a certain bubblegum lightness that fits well with the lack of gravitas on the screen.
Heather Graham is a seasoned actress who turned in an excellent performance in “Boogie Nights,” but has not developed into a major star. She would be better served honing her acting craft rather than trying to branch out into writing and directing.
This is a very light and predictable “romcom” that will appeal to light and predictable audiences.
Runtime: One hour, 28 minutes
Availability: Digital download beginning April 21, 2025
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