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Review

What happens when you defy convention? If you're thirty-something repressed housewife Julie Johnson, a whole hell of a lot. Lili Taylor stars as Julie, a Hoboken housewife who suffers from low self-esteem but secretly aspires to become a physicist. Stashing science magazines in her kitchen and taking classes on the sly (in which she excels), Julie only confides in best friend and fellow housewife Claire (Courtney Love), as her traditionalist cop husband Rick (Noah Emmerich) is anything but supportive of this "hobby."

Also adding tension is her repressed sexuality and her never-explored feelings of lesbian attraction. One day she can't take it any more and the bubble bursts: she kicks Rick out, her two kids rebel, and she begins an affair with Claire, who moves in after ditching her own hubby. Although money's tight, bliss seems possible for this new, unconventional family unit – until small-minded society closes in.

Long Island-raised director Bob Gosse scored a coup in casting the always phenomenal Taylor and better-then-she's-ever-been Love. And yes, they have a steamy love scene, which was allegedly shot with Love playing Mazzy Star all the while. Monologist Spalding Gray puts in a memorable supporting turn as Julie's impressed professor, as do Gideon Jacobs and Mischa Barton (Lost and Delirious and the hit TV show "The O.C.") as Julie's alternately supportive and rebellious adolescent spawn. While we can hope New Jersey's a little more progressive than Julie's neighborhood, her "break free or die suffocated" story is universal.

 -- Lawrence Ferber