How to Make an American Quilt is a movie filled with excellent actors, and a so so storyline. Finn Dodd is spending the summer with her grandmother, great aunt and their quilting bee supposedly to finish her master's thesis, but in reality to think things over after her boyfriend proposes.
Once she arrives she finds the quilting bee is making her a quilt based on their own experiences with love. We then go through the ritual flashbacks to learn that most of these women dealt with some kind of love related trauma in their pasts. Finn is also tempted by the local hunk and his abs before she ultimately decides whether she intends to get married to the boyfriend she left back in Berkeley.
Burstyn, Bancroft, Angelou and Nelligan all do a splendid job, and Alfre Woodard deserves special notice simply because her flashback is the one variance in the movie and she does a lot with a small part. Ryder is very appealing as well. The weakness of the movie is Ryder's men. Both are very underdeveloped. Mulroney is just bland, while Schaech's character is completely defined by his well sculptured body. It is never clear why Finn makes the choice she does, and this is the ultimate weakness of the movie, along with the fairly predictable flashbacks showing the various ways these women have been wronged by men. However, the quilts shown throughout the film are just beautiful.
Once she arrives she finds the quilting bee is making her a quilt based on their own experiences with love. We then go through the ritual flashbacks to learn that most of these women dealt with some kind of love related trauma in their pasts. Finn is also tempted by the local hunk and his abs before she ultimately decides whether she intends to get married to the boyfriend she left back in Berkeley.
Burstyn, Bancroft, Angelou and Nelligan all do a splendid job, and Alfre Woodard deserves special notice simply because her flashback is the one variance in the movie and she does a lot with a small part. Ryder is very appealing as well. The weakness of the movie is Ryder's men. Both are very underdeveloped. Mulroney is just bland, while Schaech's character is completely defined by his well sculptured body. It is never clear why Finn makes the choice she does, and this is the ultimate weakness of the movie, along with the fairly predictable flashbacks showing the various ways these women have been wronged by men. However, the quilts shown throughout the film are just beautiful.