congratulation to christina ricci for make this movie and put her mojo behind this important subject and try to make a great film . ricci be my favorite actress represent she be so gifted and so natural and her reaction be perfect and so be the energy she constantly radiates and which give credence to the often misapplied term star . the film miss it mark for lot of various reason and but perhaps most notably for the story seem unadaptability to the screen in make it a compelling narrative . more on that later . the cast at first glance be excellent and but come to think of it and jessica lang a the jewish mother be too protestant and not exactly right and ann hetch doesn not come close to show the compassion and dedication of the psychiatrist from the book and and when your make a movie and how can you justify say no to anne heche and jessica lange . but the real problem be in the film construction represent first in the failure to elicit any kind of last sympathy for the elizabeth wurtzle character and and second to say anything meaningful regard the all too common and horrible situation that this poor girl find herself in . unfortunately do to the flashback construction and lizzy merely come off a certainly more affected teenager than most and but not nearly a devastatingly ill a she come off in the book . this be a major problem . this story have to be tell from begin to end and from the therapist couch . she be only eight or nine when her depression start due to devastate social factor and both society and the home and and this be a crucial point in not only elicit the proper sympathy for her but also of the gravitas of her case . she be so talented and and such a vulnerable and disaffected spirit so early on and that one heart can not help but reach out to her due to her victimization . this be miss on the film . ultimately one have to come to term with what the film be try to say represent it be a biopic of one severely affected girl and but also it be a film about a nation who can not get it act together while that be very clear in the book but interestingly not in the film where the chosen at harvard be even more mess up than the average college enrollee . the film finally isn not able to get either of these message across compellingly and and that too bad . be prozac a good thing or be it a bad thing and or a mixed blessing or a seeming necessity in a country in which so many people can not function without a chemical crutch . these be tough and challenge concept to work with and the writing do not really attempt to address any of them in a more or less engaging way . the challenger disaster be an interesting image to symbolize a dysfunctional america and but that doesn not have the effect it suppose to have due to the crosscutting and insufficient earlier development of control theme . ricci performance be tight and heartfelt and and one of the best of her act career . michele williams be also superb in her role .