Edie and Pen

Edie and Pen are two women who've come to Reno to get divorced. Edie (Jennifer Tilly) already has a new fiancé lined up; Pen (Stockard Channing) can't quite get over the end of her nine-year marriage. After a brief drunken quest that leaves them stranded at the edge of town with Harry (Scott Glenn), a bitter cowboy whose wife just left him, the two women bond--but later that night it turns out they have more in common than they knew. Edie & Pen is full of quirky bit parts played by a wealth of character actors, but the grounded, well-crafted writing and warm performances keep things from getting too cute. Channing and Glenn have lovely chemistry, while Tilly gives charm and just enough weight to the ditzy Edie to make her relationship with Pen more than a gimmick. A modest but genuinely sweet movie. --Bret Fetzer