The Other Sister

(Buena Vista)

Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) gives us a mugging, sing-songing Juliette Lewis as a mentally challenged woman returning to her family home after spending time in a special school. Diane Keaton is her controlling, whiny, suffocating mother, who almost seems posed as the cause of her daughter's disability, not to mention the drinking problem and Republicanism of hubby Tom Skerritt. To the rescue comes Giovanni Ribisi, who suffers from the same handicap and acting disorder as Lewis's character. Their courtship is prolonged through three holidays, two weddings, and more than two hours of screen time; by the end you may find yourself longing for a sensitive portrait of the disabled like There's Something About Mary.