In the Bedroom, the first film from director/co-writer Todd Field, is a low-budget drama that takes us into the lives and minds of a family coping with an awful tragedy. It was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, although it won none. And while the acting is first-rate, the screen-play, in my opinion, is not. It tells the story of Frank (Nick Stahl), a college student who has a fling with Natalie (Marisa Tomei), an older, married-but-separated woman. His parents, Ruth (Sissy Spacek) and Matt (Tom Wilkinson of The Full Monty), don't approve of the relationship, but don't interefere. Natalie's husband Richard (William Mapother, Tom Cruise's cousin), however, not only doesn't approve, but acts on his disapproval, storming to Natalie's house one afternoon while Frank is there. Tragedy results. The remainder of the film chronicles the characters' attempts to deal with the tragedy.

Spacek, Wilkinson, and Tomei do a wonderful job portraying people in extreme pain in both their quiet moments and explosions of emotion. And the story, though slow-moving, is interesting for about 1½ hours. But the last half hour, in my opinion, just doesn't compute. The characters act in ways completely counter to how they have acted earlier in the film, and the story loses all of the emotional power that it has built up. As a result, as we watch the story move out of the bedroom and into the wild, we feel like we, too, have been taken for a ride.