AllMovie

Inspired by the childhood experiences of actor George Hamilton, director Richard Loncraine's bittersweet period comedy tells the tale of one mother's attempt to find a new father for her two young boys after catching her husband with another woman. Beautiful but mercurial, Ann Devereaux (Renée Zellweger) has always gotten by on her own charms. Her husband, Dan (Kevin Bacon), is a successful bandleader, but when Ann becomes a witness to his infidelity, she packs their two sons, George (Logan Lerman) and Robbie (Mark Rendall), into her baby-blue Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible and never looks back. The year is 1953, and Ann is convinced that her girlish charms are still as irresistible as ever. At first their trip is something of an adventure for everyone involved, but the harder Ann searches for a suitable mate the more she realizes that true gentlemen are a dying breed. As time wears on, flamboyant fledgling actor Robbie and cynical aspiring writer George begin to tire of changing schools, their increasingly humble lodgings, and their mother's romantic misadventures. It's a life of instability and unpredictability punctuated by moments of sheer panic, and as Ann forms a different future for her family than either of her sons could have ever imagined, observant George learns to look past her narcissistic exterior and appreciate the determination, dignity, and love that lies just beneath the surface.