Brilliantly acted, award-winning drama starring Laura Linney (The Truman Show) as a single mum whose family life is disrupted when her erratic brother shows up.

Everything seems to happen at the same time for Sammy (Linney), a single mom living in the town of her birth, where her parents died in a road accident when she was young.

Her eight-year-old son Rudy (Culkin) begins to imagine his father, who he's never seen, as some sort of hero while she ends up back together with last year's boyfriend.

She also gets a new boss (Broderick) who has some strange ideas and her unpredictable brother Terry (Ruffalow) arrives for a visit after going months without even speaking to her.

The boyfriend proposes, the relationship with her boss takes an unexpected turn and her brother bonds with her son, though not always with positive results.

When Terry asks Rudy if he wants to meet his father, Sammy gets into a bit of a pickle and brother and sister are forced to re-think their relationship.

It's refreshing to see a drama driven by characters rather than by a typical Hollywood plot.

The characters think, act, and talk like real people. They could be any one of us and that's the beauty of this movie.

The winning turn comes from Matthew Broderick. His role as Sammy's adulterous lover and neurotic, overpowering but ultimately wimpy boss is effortlessly realistic, and makes for some truly hilarious comic moments.

If you want fantasy, this isn't for you, but if you want to be moved by great acting and a wonderful plot that deals with the complexities of human relationships, see this film.

Dominic Bloch