Besides a taste for designer heels, Maggie (Cameron Diaz) and Rose (Toni Collette) are sisters who share little in common. It's a familiar set-up, with frumpy older sis playing mum to her footloose younger sibling - and there are no surprises in the casting - yet this offers something more than your average chick flick. Director Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential, 8 Mile) shows a surprising sensitivity to the oestrogen-fuelled conflict, nimbly balancing drama with moments of wicked humour. Collette turns in a reliably solid performance, while Diaz brings unexpected depth and warmth to a character whose transgressions include spitefully seducing her sister's boyfriend. Even so, the film belongs to Shirley MacLaine, who plays the sisters' long-lost grandmother with grit and an intriguing vulnerability. Credit should also go to screenwriter Susannah Grant for fleshing out an otherwise lightweight novel by Jennifer Weiner.

Irresponsible party girl Maggie is kicked out of her father's and stepmother's home—where she lives for free—and is taken in by her hard-working sister, Philadelphia lawyer Rose. After Maggie's disruptive ways ruin her sister's love life, Rose turns her out as well. But when their grandmother, who they never knew existed, comes into their lives, the sisters face some complicated truths about themselves and their family.