'Union Square' is a shrill NYC-set drama

Union Square

Directed by Nancy Savoca

Starring Mira Sorvino, Tammy Blanchard

Not Rated

"Union Square," a drama about sisters set in and around the titular NYC location, forgets a cardinal rule of filmmaking: We don't want to spend 80 minutes with awful people.

Nancy Savoca's movie, about the reunion of sisters Lucy (Mira Sorvino) and Jenny (Tammy Blanchard), is undone by the fact that both protagonists are obnoxious caricatures.

Lucy, clad in tight dresses and tacky boots, is prone to shrieking, while Jenny, ashamed of her Bronx upbringing, gives off tightly-wound WASPy airs.

The film begins promisingly, with Lucy suffering a breakdown in the park before surprising Jenny in her apartment, where she cluelessly makes a wreck of the place. From there, though, the movie ups the whining quotient to such an extent that the characters become downright intolerable.