She's So Lovely

There is an interesting backstory to She's So Lovely. The screenplay was originally written by John Cassavetes, who had picked Sean Penn for the lead. When Cassavetes died, Penn considered directing the film himself, but instead it was John Cassavetes's son Nick who ended up directing it.

Penn plays the drunkard Eddie, who loves his girlfriend Maureen more than anything in the world, yet still cannot stop himself going on long benders now and then. One day the pregnant Maureen is having a cosy time with the neighbour Kiefer, which ends in rape and a beating for Maureen. When Eddie comes home, she dares not confide in him for fear that his violent temper might make him want to kill Kiefer. Eddie only grows more jealous, because he knows Maureen is hiding something. This makes the madness erupt in full force. Eddie kills a social services employee who was supposed to take him to a treatment centre. For that he gets 10 years.

When Eddie is finally released from prison, Maureen is married to Joey, with whom she has two girls, plus her and Eddie's daughter. The crazy thing is that even though Maureen has found a good man in Joey, her love for Eddie is still the stronger, so she leaves her children and husband for him.

She's So Lovely is the prototype of what many would call an offbeat love drama. The characters are rather unusual, and the dialogue is surprisingly intelligent, which runs somewhat counter to the impression of Eddie and Maureen as a pair of battered, uneducated types.