The movie stars Melanie Lynskey as the pudgy brunette who lives in a working-class household. Kate Winslet plays the attractive blond who lives in a manor house and whose parents are upper-class intellectuals. The two, quite dissimilar, girls become instant buddies when they meet. Later, they develop romantic attachments with each other. They spend most of their time together in a fantasy land of knights and ladies, and they commit all of their story to a novel they write together. They also live the novel. They share a hatred of their parents, and they make a mockery of their school.

What is right with this movie is the true story and the excellent performances by both of the lead actresses. Lynskey reminded me a lot of the actress from ANGEL AT MY TABLE which was also set in New Zealand. Watch the scorn on Lynskey's dark eyes when she gets angry at her parents or at her teachers. The romance between the two girls is quite convincing and well done.

Sad to say that the writer and director, Peter Jackson, could not decide what kind of movie he wanted to make so he made three. The first is the murder story and the hatred and alienation of the two lead characters with the adult world. This works very well. It could have easily been a *** 1/2 movie if he had stuck to that. I guess he decided that would not sell enough tickets.

The movie tries to be a comedy as well - a sort of true story HAROLD AND MAUDE. This works for some people. The woman in front of me spend almost the entire movie in one belly laugh after another. Just having Lynskey smile or frown would set her off. I found it funny a few times, but as a comedy it was a * show.

The saddest part was that they spent a lot of money on special effects and made a significant part of the movie in a sword and sorcery show ala WILLOW or EXCALIBUR. This was an abysmal failure for which I would have given it no stars at all.