Carter: I pride myself on being this great listener, but whenever I meet somebody new, I find I'm doing all the talking.
Sarah: Maybe you're not really such a great listener.
Carter: Hmm?
Sarah: Maybe you're not such a great...listener.
Carter: (Beat) No, that's not it. I'm a great listener.
In the Land of Women is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Jon Kasdan (son of Lawrence Kasdan) and starring Adam Brody, Meg Ryan, Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Vega, Clark Gregg, and Olympia Dukakis.
After his pop star girlfriend breaks up with him, Carter (Brody), feeling depressed, moves from Los Angeles to Michigan to take care of his grandmother Phyllis (Dukakis). There, he's befriended by Sarah (Ryan), a housewife who's battling cancer, and her rebellious teenage daughter Lucy (Stewart), as well as her adorably precocious younger daughter Paige (Vega).
This film contains examples of:
- Adorably Precocious Child: Paige, whether she's talking about all the research she's done on the Internet, or gushing about Orange Julius or Colin Farrell.Carter: You know, I was a lot like you when I was your age.Paige: Very feminine?Carter: Precocious.
- Becoming the Mask: When Phyllis asks Carter what kind of stuff he writes, he claims he writes children's books. He ends up writing one for real (though he never publishes it).
- Buxom Beauty Standard: At least according to Phyllis; she's happy to hear Sofia was this way.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": Inverted; when Carter asks Lucy if she's kissed Gabe Foley yet, she initially says yes, then admits, "Not really...define 'kissing'."
- The Cameo:
- JoBeth Williams appears in the beginning as Carter's mother.
- Ginnifer Goodwin plays the waitress Carter meets at the end.
- Cassandra Truth: Phyllis insists she's dying, which Carter doesn't believe, or want to believe. At the end of the movie, she does.
- Deadpan Snarker: Carter does this a lot, as do Lucy and Phyllis to some extent.Gabe: You think you can step into my hood, slinging game at my girl, drinkin' my boy's brew, and expect not to be scrappin' directly?Carter: What?Gabe: Are you deaf and stupid? I said-Carter: Don't repeat all that. Please. I think the answer to your question depends on whether you have, like, a learning disability, or you're just an average moron. (Gabe punches him) Okay, above-average moron.
- Jerk Jock: Gabe; even before he beats up Carter, he dumps Lucy without telling her. Eric calls him out on this in giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Love Epiphany: Lucy has one near the end regarding Eric, to the point she changes from driving home to driving over where Eric works just to see him.
- Moment Killer: While at Gabe's party, Carter gets a phone call from Sofia, who's crying and talking about how much she's missing him. It seems as if she and Carter may talk about getting back together...and that's when Gabe comes up from behind, throws a cup of beer at Carter, and yells at him.Carter: I'm going to have to call you back.
- Mood Whiplash: Done constantly. It's set up right at the beginning, when the sad mood of Sofia breaking up with Carter is broken when a couple of Sofia's fans eagerly ask her for her autograph.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Carter is a screenwriter of soft-core porn films, though part of why he moves back to Michigan (aside from taking care of Phyllis) is so he can work on this story he's wanted to write about being a teenager in L.A. At the end, he's still working on it.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When he's out with Lucy and Paige, Carter asks them to tell him about their life in suburban Michigan, and to give him the whole John Hughes experience. Lucy doesn't know who that is, to which Carter says, "I feel...very old."
- Scatterbrained Senior: Phyllis does things like answer the door without wearing any pants, which causes Carter no end of grief.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Lucy comes home to find Sarah has fallen on the floor, and we see Sarah vomit on the floor as well.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: Carter goes jogging, but gets so caught up in his Flashback concerning his time with Sofia that he runs into a tree.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Carter and Lucy give this to each other; she to him for accidentally blurting out that Sarah might die of her cancer, and he to her for not trying to make up to her mother.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: When asking Carter about Sofia, Phyllis asks, "Is she zaftig?", which is Yiddish for big-breasted.
