Carla Tate, played by Juliette Lewis, has just come home after spending years in a school for mentally challenged children. Her well-to-do mother, Diane Keaton, is filled with guilt and remorse for having abandoned her daughter years ago and is now determined to make it up to Carla. Her sincere efforts go awry as her overprotective, domineering ways only inflame her daughter.

Carla's first exciting adventure in the real world comes as she enrolls in a vocational high school. There she begins to find her self-esteem as well as a new friend, Danny, who has similar difficulties. Together they go through the typical roller coaster ride of emotions that prove them to be very much like the rest of us so-called "normal" people.

From the visually impaired point of view. This movie starts out typically difficult with very little dialogue and a few brief flashbacks as Carlašs father picks up his daughter and brings her back home. Descriptions are necessary here. Once Carla comes home there is lots of dialogue which obviously makes the film easier to follow. The lead characters all had distinct voices and the movie did not take any bizarre turns. This was also good. The difficulty with this movie was the frequent number of nonverbal scenes with music that were used as a bridge to transition from one scene to another. I had to ask my sighted assistant many times for descriptions during these moments. Also, in spite of good dialogue and excellent descriptions from my sighted buddy I still missed lots of little nuances which got reactions from the audience. This was a little frustrating.

All in all I will still encourage you to see this movie. Itšs a movie about people with a disability, and although it's very Hollywood, it still exposes the irrational behavior of "well intentioned" family members and friends. I'll give this one a 6.