Everything Relative

Seven old college friends get together for a weekend. One of them brings along a much younger significant other; another wants to get pregnant; two are already a couple. No, they're not yuppies facing mid-life crises...they're lesbians facing mid-life crises. That's right, Everything Relative is a "lesbian Big Chill," to the most ridiculously derivative extent possible. Seeking to re-create that sense of nostalgic bonding for a niche audience, writer/director Sharon Pollak instead offers an amateurish de facto remake, without any decent actors to sell the painfully earnest ruminations. Pollak covers all the obligatory topics--coming out stories, experiments with "straight" relationships, AIDS, monogamy vs. promiscuity, and so on--but she might as well be crossing them off a grocery list for all the genuine drama invested in them. The result might appeal to gay women desperately seeking characters with which to identify, but they'd have to be very desperate indeed to sit through two hours of tedious soap opera sub-plots. It's unlikely anyone else will warm up to this warmed-over Chill. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include commentary by writer-director Sharon Pollack, a two-minute deleted scene, and selected music tracks over stills. Bottom line: a so-so extras package for a relatively uninspired film.] (S. Renshaw)