A different way of telling a story

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film was based on the play, "Colored Eggs," by Daniel Wright. Lauren Holly played a woman with cancer and a past. Faye Dunaway played a cantankerous older woman who also has cancer. The film is based on the cancer unit at a hospital ward. Lauren Holly's character Amber directed an Easter pageant for the children entitled "Colored Eggs." Tom Skerrit played an admirer of Faye's character. There is a strong supporting cast like Edie McClurg as the nurse and Janet Carroll. The film is depressing at times. Faye's character seems to fight the cancer with all she's got. There are touching moments but weird to have wedding in a cemetery. Faye's character likes cemeteries. The hospital must be next to one according to the story. The film is set between the cemetery and the hospital ward.

I hate movies that have to be ruined by cursing. This could have been a good movie, however I will never know because I had to turn it off within the first 10 minute because there were 3 curse words already at that point! I have children, and usually check all movies out on dove.org but this one was not listed, so I took a chance on it. Not a good idea. I don't have much more to say about this film however apparently it is a rule to have at least ten lines. The only reason I am writing this is for people like me who may be trying to find out if this is something clean before watching and wasting time and money. So if that's you, no this not a clean movie. Save your time and money and skip this one.

A few name actors accepted roles in this low-budget, derivative and treacly serio-comedy about the emotions of cancer patients and their loved ones. Holly plays a self-employed beautician who makes wigs for women facing cancer. Soon, she finds herself wearing them as it is revealed that she has her own serious case of the disease. Brooding Somerhalder is a male nurse assigned to care for her during her stay at a rather old hospital. They begrudgingly form a relationship that winds up being mutually beneficial. Dunaway plays a bitter and cranky patient whose radiation treatment creates the need for some of Holly's hairpieces. Meanwhile, Skeritt haunts the hospital, continuously pleading with Dunaway to marry him. McClurg pounds the floor trying to hunt down Dunaway and make her eat her oatmeal in lieu of her more-favored Hershey bars. The cast take turns meandering through a cemetery next to the hospital as they examine their various emotional entanglements. By the end, one person is gone, one is cured and one has been changed forever. Holly actually gives a rather strong performance, injecting a lot of emotion and heart into her role. Dunaway, on the other hand, chews up the scenery and spits it out in virtually every take. It isn't hard to see who was running the show in her scenes (hint: it wasn't the director!) It doesn't help that she's decked out in an atrocious, flipped-out, grey wig for the bulk of the film. At this point in her career, she simply cannot quit gyrating her mouth, rolling her eyes and just generally over-emoting all over the place. Somerhalder does a decent job as well, trying to add some humanity to a thinly drawn character. Skeritt has nothing to do, thus he flounders desperately, trying to create any sort of character out of his plot device of a role. The script is the primary culprit here. It's often unclear, illogical and highly unoriginal. Holly has scenes in a beauty shop that reek of leftover quips and caricatures from another, better play/film. This section plays like "Tin Magnolias". There is a gaggle of uppity, hat-wearing shrews led by Carroll (and including Coolidge, of all people) who appear frequently to comment on the goings on. The hospital is unlike any true establishment of its kind with loads of space, huge rooms, no one around and Christmas wreaths that hang outside right up until Easter! The film is edited with a jigsaw, featuring clear and obvious cuts within scenes and continuity issues. It's a clichéd, predictable, maudlin mess, worthwhile only to fans of Holly who might enjoy seeing her tackle an emotional role or folks who enjoy watching Dunaway camp it up and ham it up excessively only to emerge again near the end dressed up and behaving normally.

Lauren Holly and Faye Dunaway are remarkable in this film. Throw in Tom Skerrit and Ian Somerhalder and the rest of the cast and you have a touching story with the right amount of humor. Colored Eggs is an excellent look into the life of cancer patients, reminding us all how precious life really is...