cast : james woods , kathleen turner , kirsten dunst , josh harnett , hannah hall , chelse swain , a . j . cook , leslie hayman , michael pare , danny devito , scott glenn , giovanni ribisi based on a novel by : jeffrey eugenides written and directed by : sofia coppola running time : 91 minutes suicide is pointless , everyone should know that . so what's this movie like ? you guessed it . . . pointless . the virgin suicides focuses on the lives of the five lisbon sisters , from the perspective of the teenage boys who are fascinated by them . when the youngest lisbon sister commits suicide , it sets in motion a series of events that will change the lives of many people forever . that's what the press materials for the film probably say . now here's what i say : the virgin suicides is a huge waste of time . boring , arty , pretentious junk that is about as entertaining as . . . well as committing suicide . the movie lost me early on , immediately following the scene where the younger daughter jumps to her death from her bedroom window . the girl's father ( james woods ) holds her lifeless body in his arms as their horrified family looks on . then , as the scene ends , the lawn sprinklers come on . is that a joke ? is that supposed to be amusing in some way ? from then on , the movie failed to draw me back in . performances are the only saving grace of the virgin suicides . woods plays the only character who would actually interest me when he came onscreen , but the performance of kirsten dunst as the next youngest daughter lux is worth mentioning as well . dunst has the potential to be a big star , if she chooses her projects well . and while this film is awful , she manages to come away from it virtually unscathed . there are also a few cameos in the film here and there , which only frustrate the audience as they leave you wanting more . as a result , they all seem rather pointless ( although there's a brief role given to michael pare from eddie and the cruisers which turns out to be his best role since . . . well since eddie and the cruisers ) . perhaps the virgin suicides would have worked had the story not been told from the point of view of people who had very little access to the main characters . we never get any significant insight into the girls and why they might be feeling what they're feeling . all we really know is that mrs . lisbon ( kathleen turner ) is strict and keeps them on a short leash . what mother doesn't ? it's certainly no reason to commit suicide . with the godfather part iii , sofia coppola proved that she had no business being in front of the camera . with the virgin suicides , she proves she has no business behind it either . having family connections doesn't entitle you to be allowed to make movies . so attention film directors . . . stop letting your daughters pout their way into the industry . just because they share your dna doesn't mean they share your talent . [r] reviewed by chuck dowling - <a href= " mailto : chuckd21@fdn . com " >chuckd21@fdn . com</a> aol instant messenger : filmjax the jacksonville film journal - <a href= " http : //www . jaxfilmjournal . com/ " >http : //www . jaxfilmjournal . com/</a> 
