White Oleander

By all rights this earnest (if not profound) saga of a tender teenage girl's rollercoaster ride through foster care should be a weepy, cable TV movie-of-the-week--but its dedicated pedigree cast makes all the difference. Michelle Pfeiffer shows serious bite as the girl's domineering jailbird mom, who becomes subtly but increasingly detrimental to her daughter's psyche with every prison visit. As foster moms, Robin Wright Penn is solid as the aging white-trash guardian who sees the 14-year-old heroine as sexual competition, while Renee Zellweger is a sweet, but clingy, failed L.A. actress looking more for a girlfriend than a daughter. Inexperienced lead actress Alison Lohman (Fox TV's Pasadena) holds her own, making a potent yet understated impression as the willowy, doe-eyed, vulnerable but increasingly stalwart Astrid, whose sweet, pliable, eager-to-please character is slowly tempered into defiant independence through the numerous hardships she faces in her formative years. Ultimately, these distinctive performances largely make up for the picture's generic studio picture feel. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Peter Kosminsky, producer John Wells, and author Janet Fitch; a 13-minute “The Journey of White Oleander” behind-the-scenes featurette; an 11-minute “The Making of White Oleander” featurette; six minutes of additional scenes; text cast and crew filmographies; and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a sure to be popular if somewhat disappointing adaptation.] (R. Blackwelder)