i have to agree with some of the other comment and even go a step far . nothing about this film work and absolutely nothing . delmar our central character make the decision to become a surrogate mother in order to earn enough money to buy a restaurant but along the way fall for a wise ex jailbird . at the same time her friend hortense be try to get her lawyer boyfriend to finally marry her . she also happen to be sleep with marlon who be desperately in love with her . then there delmar brother jethro who get involve with a former coke addict and missy who reveal she be sexually abuse by her adopt father . on the sideline we also have the eccentricmother who have an assortment of equally odd friend and one of whom dy on the couch at the beginning of the film . so far so good but after introduce these character and story line address life and death and grief and love in the first half and the film simply lose direction . if the writer have only select one or two character and allow u to follow their story maybe thing would have be fine but equal screen time be give to all with the result that no one story or character be fully develop . for instance and why do delmar think she will be able to hand over her child in exchange for money and especially when the prospective parent be a creepy bigoted lawyer and his semi alcoholic and depressed wife . why be hortense so desperate to marry a man who be a jerk and clearly doesn not love her . how be it missy manage to kick her coke habit overnight . be jethro regularly draw to woman with overwhelming problem and or be missy the exception . have delmar and jethro mother always be on the eccentric side and or be it a more recent development . why be jethro so keen on cadillacs that he have one in the middle of his living room . why do moses spend year in prison for steal a car and a relatively minor crime . how do delmar manage to end up give birth to moses baby when there be no suggestion that they ever have sex . these question be pose in the screenplay but sadly be never answer . i can only assume they be answer in the original novel and that be why the writer felt the need to include it all in the script . big mistake . lose several subplots especially the hortense and marlon story and which add nothing to the overall film and would have tighten thing considerably and allow more time to develop the delmar and jethro and moses character who be clearly more central to the plot and underlie theme than anyone else . add to that the most pedestrian directing style see outside of the average soap opera and the result be a huge missed opportunity for all and include jorja fox who do her best to rise above the material . i be not surprised that this appear to have be the director last film a this effort show no evidence of a visual style or ability to tell a moving and intelligent story .