While I was gone to Wyoming, I bought $1.25 worth of movies on VHS. That ended up to be 6 videos altogether. A good movie is another kind of escape. One of the videos is "The Other Sister" a 1999 film that stars Juliette Lewis as Carla Tate, a mentally challenged girl who comes home after 10 years in a special school. As Carla and her family celebrate her 22nd birthday, she expresses the wish to get her high school diploma. The fun starts as Mom played by Diane Keaton tries to put her off. Keaton starts out abrasive, but as time goes on she won my sympathy. She feels as though as a mother she has failed, not just with Carla, but her other daughters as well, the all too seldom seen Heather and Caroline, I wish their characters could have been developed more. Tom Skerritt gives an above average performance as Dad. He and Keaton had some good and powerful scenes together.

The story gets complicated when Carla falls in love with Danny, a student at the Polytechnic school at which she enrolls. Of course, this being is a Garry Marshall film, you already know the story has a happy ending, especially because they never made a sequel. Another Marshall staple, Hector Elizondo, has a supporting role here. He gives his usual excellent performance as well. There are some plot elements I could have done without, but it's just a movie, so we have to take what were given. Besides, it only cost a quarter for me to see it. What a bargain!

As I mentioned, Carla's two sisters are not in this movie nearly enough. One wonder's why give it the title of "Other Sister" Lewis was nominated for a Worst Supporting Actress Razzie, getting beat by Denise Richards. I must say though, that this role actually showed me that her acting has range. Before this, I had only seen her play dumb blonds, sluts, and dumb blond sluts. Bottom line: The actors rose above some mediocre writing, and they all lived happily ever after.