It's a movie about love and loss, and pain and grief, and reasonably priced po' boys and scabby hookers and the French Quarter and second lines, and DIY home improvement and how sometimes what you fear is gonorrhea just turns out to be a UTI, and all of that, supported and elevated by excellent performances, amounts to something really nice: that hope and redemption are always possible. I mean, there have been a million "indie dramas" about that and it takes a pretty formulaic road to that destination, but when it's James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo taking you there, it's still mesmerizing to watch. And the emotion is genuine and makes sense, even if it seems a bit melodramatic in its execution. Yes, it's crazy that Gandolfini's character -- a wealthy businessman -- would extend his New Orleans trip to move in with a diseased Kristen Stewart and fix up her not-exactly-up-to-code slum, but grief makes you do crazy things, and the grief of losing a child, I'd imagine, would make you do even crazier things. Through that periscope, it really doesn't seem that ridiculous.

The script is not without some major issues, however. The movie wraps up so neatly it's not only lazy, it feels like it was tacked on from some other, lesser movie. All three characters have this major breakdown in one scene, and then in the next everyone is cleaned up and happy a few months later, and everybody's friends, and everything's great, and it's like -- what? How is that even possible? These people were dying the last time we saw them! There are a few moments like that, where things just happen a little too quickly or are a little too clichéd, that it takes you out of it, but if you discount the hackneyed ending, the movie really is a nice little tearjerker on the whole.

Oh, and Kristen Stewart? She's honestly not bad. Her character's main characteristic is that she's unpleasant, however, so maybe that's why she didn't seem miscast. But either way, she wasn't anywhere near as annoying and terrible as I'd expected. Though if you're thinking about seeing this because it's been billed as "The Kristen Stewart Stripper Movie," sorry, she remains clothed and really doesn't do any stripping all movie. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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