399 – Lovely And Amazing (with Jeff Hiller!)

About this episode

Emmy winner Jeff Hiller joins us this week to talk about one of our beloved Nicole Holofcener’s earliest films. Lovely and Amazing follows a Los Angeles family of women burdened by insecurities, from the mother (Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn) opting in to liposuction to her two adult daughters who help her with a preteen adopted sister. Debuting at festivals in 2001, the film released the next summer to strong reviews for Holofcener muse Catherine Keener and earned an Indie Spirit win for Emily Mortimer. This episode, we talk about Holofcener’s style of funny and bracing brutal honesty and this film’s depiction of actor insecurities. We also discuss Mortimer’s showcase scene mentioned in…