AllMovie

Bonnie Hunt complains to director Pete Jones because she's concerned about how she's being lit and shot during an emotional bedroom scene. The DP, Pete Biagi, is unsympathetic to Hunt's problem. "Is this a Hollywood movie where everything's slick and glossy?" he asks. Some on the production team think Jones has put too much faith in Biagi to handle the visual aspects of the film. The director disagrees. Later, the filmmakers need to shoot three pages of dialogue before lunch, which is a lot. Biagi takes an excessive amount of time to light the location, leaving Jones with inadequate time to work with his child actors, Adi Stein and Mike Weinberg. The film's editor, Gregg Featherman, tells Jones he's not happy with the kids' performances. So Jones confronts Biagi, telling him they can't spend so much time waiting for lighting. Biagi lets the crew know he's unhappy with Jones' approach. Later, shooting Hunt and Aidan Quinn in the bedroom, Biagi doesn't get the shot he wants on a pan, so he intentionally shakes the camera, making the pan unusable. He calls it a "sly dog trick to protect the visuals." Producer Chris Moore calls it a very "aggressive" move, displaying Biagi's lack of trust in the rest of the production, and his desire to protect himself. Later, for a crucial scene at the beach, Biagi and Jones want a crane shot for the climax. This entails a long day putting together scaffolding for the camera out in the ocean. Moore and Jeff Balis both question the need for the complicated shot, which Biagi insists on shooting during "magic hour," at dusk. Another problem arises at the beach. The water is freezing, and neither Stein nor Weinberg knows how to swim.