Wendy Cracked a Walnut (1990) Online

Wendy (Arquette) loves to read and doesn't put her current book down at the supermarket, on the bus, or even at work on occasion. Her favorites, of course, are romance novels with gallant and intriguing men. However, Wendy is married to Ronnie, one of the most prosaic of all gentlemen. He is a workaholic who doesn't even return home on the night of their anniversary. Wendy is miffed. When she meets a stranger at the supermarket, she falls victim to his advances. But, does Wendy really want excitement or security? Arquette gives an adorable performance as the working housewife without enough serendipity in her existence. Ronnie is a likable dolt and the mystery man exudes charm in every pore. The Australian setting should please viewers who like exotic locales. Although not a blue ribbon winner by any means, Almost has a sweetness and fantastical quality that is infectious. For those who love romance novels themselves, this film will be your cup of tea.

'...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.

This movie centres around three main characters, Wendy, who constantly reads romantic novels, her husband Ronnie who is preoccupied with trying to earn a living as a salesman, and Jake (a lady's man). The film has that off-beat Australian style, such that you're never quite sure what will happen next, but it's quite a charming tale and well-worth viewing.

Popular romance novels, in addition to American Westerns and private eye tales, are common fodder for millions of undemanding readers who are never strained by their favourites as they can simply open a book to any page and immediately be upon familiar territory. Each of these genres is suitable for effective cinematic pastiche, and successful comedic examples of films in these classifications are not difficult to locate, but this Australian effort is certainly not one. Wendie Walters (Rosanna Arquette) occupies a great deal of her time by reading romance novels, the origin of her fascination with this froth not surprisingly being an uninteresting marriage, in her case one of ten years to Ronnie (Bruce Spence), a route salesman for a cut-rate confectionery. Her dreary existence is normally only enlivened by fantasies born of her reading, but since her tenth wedding anniversary is only a day away, she has planned something more realistic, a lavish meal for her and Ronnie to be held in their small flat, a candlelit feast that she worries may be more meaningful to her than to her spouse. Indeed, apparently this is the fact, for Ronnie does not show up for the dinner, does not even come home at all, although a viewer knows the reason as we watch him driving through the Outback, following his sales route and suffering through a spate of vehicular mishaps that include overheating, a tire puncture, and a lightning strike that deposits a large tree limb in the path of his delivery van, thereby stranding him in Lizard Gully, population 2 (a crafty woman with her grown, and quite dim, son). Sadly, Wendie knows nought of Ronnie's difficulties because his telephone calls have been intercepted by a jealous adversary of hers at their work office and, smarting from disappointment brought by her wasted anniversary celebratory attempt, she begins to believe that Ronnie is consorting with a "floozie", this serving only to strengthen the fantasy laden fabric of her generally banal existence. This she does, largely by creating an ideal man in her mind with whom she may, without reserve, fall in love, named "Jake" or "Randy" (Hugo Weaving), a mind made conceptualized swain who, in actuality, may exist, since Wendie's co-workers have spotted him driving her about in his European convertible. This latter quartet of office girls is serving after a fashion of a Greek Chorus in support of her remarkable affair with Jake/Randy, since they are generally on scene, although one of them, Deidre (Kerry Walker - who wins the acting laurels here), discovers that Wendie has embezzled a thousand dollars from her employer's till to finance her escapist, and very well mounted, affair. Meanwhile, back in Lizard Gully Ronnie, after being driven to shelter in an abandoned shack by a storm, recognizes that the decrepit building was once a small café and, tired of his dead-end job, he remains there, completely refurbishing the restaurant, now named "Wendie's", fulfilling his own fantasy of him and his wife having a fresh beginning, inspired by memories from their past shared hopes and idealistic plans. When Ronnie finally returns to reclaim Wendie, he discovers a goodly amount of evidence that she has been dallying with another in his absence, but remains true to his design and drags her back to Lizard Gully to the restaurant that he has restored for them. There is true professionalism to be found in the making of this foolish film, with top-flight designing, costumes, camera-work and sound processing; unfortunately, whatever may have been the work's original concept is lost, the scenario forming a barrier to any interest in a viewer stemming from continual shortcomings in logic and continuity. This is yet another in a series of fey characterizations from the generally monochromatic Arquette, but she is ably joined here by a solid supporting cast and the two other principal players, all of whom do what they can with a script that is barely worth the effort. Are Wendie's fantasies based upon actual incidents?...or are they simply created whole cloth and pulled from her imagination? Unhappily, the screenplay wavers throughout upon these matters until, after silly surrealism and physical comedy have become prominent, a viewer merely wishes to go on to other things.