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Description |
It will lift your
spirits. A Romantic Comedy.
1997 - 92 minutes
When Soosh (Moira Kelly) a pretty and gifted young artist
finds her rent climbing and her savings shrinking, a run-down house of nuns
becomes her home and refuge. The
household chores in the holy home are more than she bargained for until romance
blossoms with Felix (Dylan Walsh) an art supply salesman.
Soosh steals art supplies until Felix steels her heart in this romantic
comedy with soul!
CHANGING
HABITS is an innocuous serious-comedy about a maladjusted, struggling artist who
matures with the aid of a compassionate suitor and sagacious nuns. Short on
guffaws and long on exposition, this fact-based yarn about psychological healing
annoys viewers with a heroine whose self-centered antics are supposed to be an
expression of her winsome free-spiritedness.
Aspiring painter
Soosh Teague (Moira Kelly) doesn't want to depend on handouts from her father,
renowned artist Theo Teagarden (Christopher Lloyd), whom she blames for her
mother's suicide. Turning her back on Theo, independent Soosh supports herself
by shoplifting, ripping off the boutique where she works, and getting room and
board at a convent in exchange for providing minor care for elderly residents.
She spends her free time painting a highly personal mural in the convent
basement.
When Soosh is
caught stealing art supplies, the store's good-natured owner, Felix Shepherd
(Dylan Walsh), agrees not to prosecute her if she will date him. Although Soosh
resists Felix's affection, he wins her over.
When the Bishop
(Bob Gunton) threatens to sell the religious order's residence, the resourceful
Mother Superior (Eileen Brennan) calls attention to the rushed-through sale by
publicizing Soosh's expressive mural. After doing a little research, Felix
provides Soosh with some startling information about her mother's death:
depressed by a failed writing career and addicted to drugs (factors which led to
Theo's alcoholism and neglect), Soosh's mom nearly killed her daughter as well
as herself. Reconciled with her unfairly maligned father, Soosh can now respond
to Felix's courtship wholeheartedly. Knowing her painting helped save the
convent, Soosh moves in with Felix.
Based
on the life of Sheila Rossini, CHANGING HABITS is hell-bent on seducing viewers
with examples of Soosh's kooky hand-to-mouth survivalism. We're meant to
appreciate how far Soosh journeys, from antisocial misfit to model citizen. But
her contrived eccentricity seems as bogus as the twinkling piety of her
nun-mentors, a batch of cute holy women right out of THE SINGING NUN (1966). Too
many script incidents are derivative of other feel-good flicks, e.g., Soosh
opens up to a needy senior citizen who falls out of bed nightly to get
attention. On the plus side are Kelly's caustic delivery and Walsh's soft-spoken
charm; their rapport creates the atmosphere for a passable romantic comedy that
stubs its toe on a "daddy dearest" soap opera of negligible interest. (Extreme
profanity, adult situations, sexual situations, substance abuse.)
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Cast
Information |
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Moira Kelly .... Susan "Soosh" Teague
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Taylor Negron .... Boutique Owner
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Teri Garr .... Connie
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Eileen Brennan .... Mother Superior
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Shelley Duvall .... Sister Agatha
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Dylan Walsh .... Felix Shepherd
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Jennifer Aspen .... Art Store Customer
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Marissa Ribisi .... Erin
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Frances Bay .... Midge
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Anne Haney .... Sister Humiliata
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Jennifer Youngs .... Alice
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Laurel Moglen .... Brandy
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Christopher Lloyd .... Theo Teagarden
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Bairbre Dowling .... Woman in Loft
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Bob Gunton .... Bishop Creighton
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Annabelle Gurwitch .... Boutique Customer
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Director
Information |
Directed by
Lynn Roth
Produced by
James Dodson
Elisa Goodman (associate)
Scott Davis Jones (associate)
Straw Weisman (associate)
Film Editing by
Susan Godfrey
Set Decoration
Kristen Davis
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Miscellaneous
Information |
Country of
origin: U.S.
Genre:
Comedy; Drama
Color or
b/w: Color
Production
Co(s).: Teagarden Pictures Inc.; Initial Entertainment Group
Released
By: A-Pix Home Video
MPAA
rating: R
Parental
rating: Cautionary; some scenes objectionable
Running
time: 92
Production Companies
· Teagarden Pictures Inc.
· Initial Entertainment Group
Distributors
· A-pix Entertainment, Inc.
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