The Diary

The Diary (PG-13; 185 mins.)

When a woman (Jennifer Garner) returns to her childhood home following her mother's death, she discovers a diary her mother kept years earlier to record the trials and tribulations she experienced in raising a family. At first, Garner finds solace in the diary, and finds it helps her to relate to her mother and find closure in her loss. But her comfort turns to horror when she discovers that her mother was really tacky. For example, the mother often wrote down things she had overheard and thought were very profound but were in fact incredibly inane and idiotic. To make matters worse, the mother had horrible grammar, and didn't understand the difference between "they're," "there," and "their." As Garner struggles to understand a woman she thought she knew, but who apparently thought that a picture of Jesus petting a cat was "beautiful," she must come to terms with the fact that her mother was, in the end, just human. Don Henley's soundtrack is a master stroke, and features this summer's ubiquitous "Mama's Book."

Suggestive language; adult situations.