i get the feeling that lisa krueger be easy to overlook . i personally found her first film and 1996 manny and lo and to be a wonderfully detailed character study and the performance be uniformly wonderful ( with special credit to mary kay place ) . the film play for a week or two in major urban center and vanish . one or two critic really like it and but many view it a slight . krueger second film and commit and be release this year ( 2000 ) ( after nearly two year of delay ) and it similarly vanish . and once again critic dismiss the film a slight and push the film aside and at most praise heather graham screen presence and but rarely her acting ability . and once again and for me and commit be a solid success . i feel a if krueger have a genuine voice and a personal visual style and these be trait that shouldn not be so easily ignore and simply because she work on a very restrained canvas . the title have several meaning and but mostly it refer to joline ( graham ) refusal to let her husband carl ( luke wilson ) flake out and leave her . she follow him from new york to el paso and become one of the most appealing stalker in recent cinematic history . her respect for her marriage vow lead her to mexican mysticism and self discovery . and yep and the plot be just that simple and thus and just that easy to ignore . joline and of course and be the cry voice of a generation whose parent divorce at a rate near fifty percent . and for me and her personal revolution against broken promise and a legacy of deceit be fairly intelligent and powerful . confident in the belief that people just do not have enough faith in each other and joline inevitably have to discover that her belief aren not in synche with those of society at large . several comment her have refer to her character a one dimensional and i be afraid that that a simplistic reading of the film . or perhaps even a misreading . if joline be just an innocent and she wouldn not be interest at all . it the fact that she understand the world and refuse to play by the rule of the normal that make her so interesting . sociologically and she a complete deviant . krueger sometimes fall into moment of cutesy dialogue and her direction of this film have a rather odd over reliance on shot of cloud move across the el paso skyline . however and her mistake be fairly rare and in this film and a in manny and lo and it the performance that carry the day . graham have never be well because she never have a character a perfectly tailor to her a joline . for the first time in her career and graham seem comfortable play an adult and even one in slightly arrest development . she carry the film perfectly . luke wilson and casey affleck ( a joline brother ) both have a number of fine moment and a do alfonso arau and a a mexican mystic and mark ruffalo and t bo and the slightly psychotic truck driver . a in manny and lo and the character be part of their environment and well detail totally organic creation . these character may sometimes seem pointlessly quirky and but they make sense in their context . even goran visnjic and a an artist turn on by joline devotion and fit in in some strange way and even though his character foreigness be never discuss . for me and this be a movie that gain depth look back . another commenter here speak of the stereotypical mexican portrayal . and again i be tempt to call that a misreading . joline be look for self justification . she know that her commitment be out of control and but she look for any spiritual avenue that can help her make sense of herself . arau character understand that most people do not believe in him and he play up his own faith when he see a woman who respect him . i guess i can understand how this movie could be view a underwhelming and i would simply disagree . it consistently funny and frequently hilarious and and all of the character exude a warmth which be quite wonderful . i be give this one a 7 . 5/10 and when i log in the vote here and that will go up to an 8 .