Plot
Young, soft-core writer Carter Webb lives in Los Angeles. His young, starlet girlfriend Sofia breaks up with him.
Carter later goes to be his supposedly dying grandmother's carer in Michigan, partly to try to heal and also write.
Upon arrival, grandma Phyllis does not initially recognize him, and he sees that she does need help. She has not been eating properly nor keeping her home tidy. After a few phone calls with his mother and his boss, Carter begins to clean up the house.
Across the street, Paige and Lucy return home from school. Their mother Sarah calls Lucy to the kitchen and tells her she has found a lump in her breast. Shocked, Lucy wants to go with her mother when she receives her results, but Sarah refuses.
Lucy watches Carter take out huge bags of trash, snickering. Before he can talk to her, Sarah comes out with their dog, Bozo, introducing herself. They talk before Lucy's friends arrive, and Sarah goes back inside. Lucy and Carter meet, and she asks Carter not to tell her parents that she smokes.
The next morning, Sarah arrives at Carter's doorstep, bringing cookies and inviting him to walk Bozo. They chat about their lives. Carter mentions Sofia, wondering about his love for her. He believes that love letters he has written for Sofia contain his best work.
Returning home, Sarah asks Lucy to invite Carter out to take his mind off Sofia, but she refuses, and her husband agrees. Sarah leaves the room, frustrated, going to her bathroom to take painkillers.
The next day, while on a run, Carter remembers the time he had with Sofia: from their first kiss to their breakup. Distracted, he runs into a tree and passes out. When he wakes up, Lucy is standing over him. She gives him a ride home and then invites him to a movie. Carter tells her to ask her parents permission to take him out on a school night, as they normally would not. Lucy, agrees, and goes back inside.
Shortly thereafter, Sarah invites Carter on another walk. This time, she leads him into a patch of forest. She admits that her husband is having an affair and that she does not love him – at least not the way Carter loved Sofia. They hug and leave to run errands together. The two deepen their friendship and later, when she tells him about the cancer, they kiss.
Carter goes to the movies with Lucy and Paige. He finds out that his ex has been dating Colin Farrell. Afterward, Lucy brings Carter to a football field because he was curious about the typical high school experience. There, she confesses to be sort of dating the high school quarterback Gabe, who is quite arrogant. However, they have not kissed yet. Meanwhile, Gabe's best friend Eric is the opposite of Gabe; soft and shy. Lucy reveals she knows her father is having an affair, but believes her mother does not know.
Lucy convinces Carter to come to a party with her for support after discovering that Gabe hooked up with her best friend. During the party, Gabe tries to fight him, but Eric steps in saying that Gabe is the one who screwed up. After the party, Carter and Lucy kiss. Sarah sees this and tells Carter to leave Lucy alone and to never speak to them again. Some days later, he leaves her a letter.
Lucy goes to see Carter, who says he is not the guy for her and if she thought about it, she would realize who is. Sarah gets her cancer treatments and finds out that everything will be all right. Sarah and Lucy talk and start to heal their relationship. While driving home from the hospital, Lucy stops to see Eric and realizes he is the guy. Sarah reads Carter's letter which, though similar to a love letter, is more of a "thank you" note.
One day, Carter find his grandmother has died but does not immediately call hospice. Instead, he goes outside for some air and sees Sarah. She apologizes, and they manage to end their friendship on good terms.
In Los Angeles, Carter goes back to the diner where Sofia broke up with him. He is writing a script about his grandmother. Talking to the waitress, he seems to be getting on with his life without Sofia.
Reception
Commercial
The film was released April 20, 2007 in the United States and grossed US$4.7 million in 2,155 theaters in its opening weekend, coming in eighth at the U.S. box office.[3] The film stayed in theaters for 10 weeks and went on to gross $11 million in the U.S., with a combined worldwide gross of $17.5 million.[2] The gross exceeded the film's $10 million budget, making it a moderate box office success.[1]
Critical
The film received mixed reviews. As of September 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 117 reviews (51 "fresh", 67 "rotten").[4] The critical consensus states, "While pleasantly acted, In the Land of Women is a dramatically stilted film with underdeveloped characters". On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 47 out of 100 based on 29 reviews.[5]
