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DVD

In the tradition of Die! Die! My Darling comes this tale of a young heroine made miserable by a lover's eccentric relations. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a New Yorker who marries a handsome boyfriend (Jonathon Schaech) and--following a confidence-shattering encounter with Manhattan crime--moves to his family's thoroughbred ranch. There, the young man's dominating mother (a hammy, Blanche DuBois-like role for Jessica Lange) goes to war with new bride's claim on mama's Oedipal turf. A stock thriller ensues, and while one has a sense of déjà vu about the whole thing, the film is fun for its audacity, its underpinnings of dime-store psychology, and some gothic stereotypes. (Hal Holbrook is perfect as one's fantasy of a country doctor.) --Tom Keogh