Wendy Cracked a Walnut

'...Almost' is a cute, creatively crafted little love story that resembles the low-budget style of made-for-TV British movies you might find randomly aired on PBS or BBC. I can't figure out, however, why it was marketed as a thriller? Actually, I attribute most of the misrepresentation to the video store in which I found it, and only partly to the filmmakers (most notably because of the haunting orchestra heard during the opening titles).

In something like an homage to her 'Desperately Seeking Susan' character, Roberta, Rosanna Arquette plays a bored, timid housewife in a seemingly fizzled marriage. She longs for the adventure and, more importantly, the sensuality, she finds in the pages of her romance novels. But, it becomes evident by a series of ironies, accidents, and misadventures that eventually causes both Wendy (Arquette) and her lovable doofus husband, Ronnie (Bruce Spence, of the Mad Max movies) to see what went wrong and to remember what it was that attracted them to each other. With witty storytelling, it all involves a forgotten anniversary, a guy's unfortunate and persistent bad luck, a scheming coworker, a dazzling stranger, and a woman who reads way too many romance novels. A funny little comedy/drama for sure, but it is certainly no thriller.