The Butcher's Wife

Marina (Demi Moore), a blonde Southern belle with a clairvoyant streak, sees signs--a shooting star with two tails, a snowglobe that washes up on the beach, a wedding band inside of a fish--telling her that her true love is about to come ashore. And soon enough, a boat lands on the beach in front of her home; only the guy inside is a stout butcher from New York City named Leo (George Dzundza). Still, portents are portents, and the next thing you know she's married and running barefoot around a butcher's shop in Greenwich Village, where she inspires various residents with her predictions. Leo, however, is frightened by his wife's abilities and encourages her to see Alex (Jeff Daniels), a psychiatrist who works across the street. To placate him, she does--and soon begins to suspect that she's misread her signs and married the wrong man. The Butcher's Wife could use a little more humour about Marina's powers (her pronouncements are dizzyingly earnest) but the movie is buoyed up by a fantastic supporting cast, particularly Margaret Colin as a soap opera actress, Frances McDormand as a lesbian dress shop owner and Mary Steenburgen as a dowdy church choir leader who just wants to sing the blues. Like Marina, you know what's going to happen but the cast manages to make getting there charming. --Bret Fetzer