The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Based on her own novel, Rebecca Miller directs this wallowing tale of bad people doing bad things. Unfortunately, the film comes apart at its emotionally precarious seams. Robin Wright Penn plays Pippa, who martyrs herself for her much older (by 30 years) husband Herb (Alan Arkin). The generational divide between this spring/winter couple comes to the fore when his medical condition demands that they move out of their posh beach house to a retirement community in Connecticut. The story flip-flops between Pippa's current tribulations and disingenuous flashbacks which depict Pippa's helter-skelter youth at the mercy of her unfit mother (Maria Bello), whom she escaped at 16. Young Pippa (played by Blake Lively) briefly crashes with her lesbian aunt. Said aunt's fetish photographer girlfriend Kat (played by Jullianne Moore) takes a shine to Pippa before sending the lost young soul packing. With two grown children out of her perennially mussed hair, Pippa finds herself attracted to her neighbor's son Chris (played by Keanu Reeves). An act of adultery by Herb gives Pippa license to pursue Chris but there isn't much rhyme or reason to their coupling. "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" doesn't know whether it's a drama, a comedy, or a random slice-of-life expose. Neither will you.

Rated R. 98 mins. (D+) (One Star)