Penelope

A wealthy heiress (Christina Ricci) suffers from a witch’s hex on her family—she has the face of a pig, and her protective parents (Catherine O’Hara, Richard E. Grant) shelter her while searching for a true love to break the curse. Writer Leslie Caveny and director Mark Palansky’s gender-switch on Beauty and the Beast has languished on the festival circuit for a year and a half, and no wonder: The ham-handed comedy betrays Caveny’s sitcom roots, and Palansky’s clunky direction never sets a consistent tone. But for all that, it’s enjoyable, thanks mainly to Ricci’s sweetly poignant performance and the rapport she has with James McAvoy as one of her suitors. The movie takes place in a fairy-tale Anglo-American Neverland, and Reese Witherspoon contributes a cameo as Ricci’s newfound blue-collar pal.