''If I Were You'' is a 2012 Canadian-British comedy-drama from Joan Carr-Wiggin starring

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. Harden's breakthrough came in 1990 with the Coen brothers' film '' Miller's ...

, Leonor Watling and

Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an Irish-American actor. He made his film debut in '' Reckless'' (1984), and has starred in over 80 feature films, including ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' (1985), '' The Mission'' (1986), '' Stakeout'' (1987) ...

Plot

Madelyn, a marketing professional, sees her husband (Paul) canoodling with his mistress (Lucy) in a restaurant and in her credulity decides to call him just to make sure it is him she has seen. Madelyn's distraught call grips Paul in his guilt and, consequently, he decides to leave Lucy on the spot. Madelyn follows Lucy and finds her upset and buying a long piece of rope. Suspecting Lucy is about to commit suicide, Madelyn stalks Lucy and finds she is getting ready to hang herself with the rope in her apartment. To save Lucy, Madelyn befriends her and aiming to help Lucy regain her confidence and develop a career in acting, she helps her get into a production of

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

. Madelyn plays Lear (as a Queen) while Lucy is the fool. The script and scenes of the main story are theatrically articulated as the movie pays homage to the theater and the play that has been embedded in it.

Cast

as Madelyn * Leonor Watling as Lucy *

as Derek *

Valerie Mahaffey Valerie Mahaffey (June 16, 1953 – May 30, 2025) was an American actress. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera '' The Doctors'' (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...

as Lydia * Michael Therriault as Rainer (Director) *

Gary Piquer Gary Piquer is a Spanish actor. He appeared in more than forty films since 1979. Selected filmography References External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Spanish male film actors 21st-century Spanish m ...

as Keith * Elizabeth Whitmere as Goneril * Claire Brosseau as Regan * Joseph Kell as Paul * Daniela Saioni as Waitress * Genadijs Dolganovs as Store Clerk * Bethany Jillard as Cordelia

Reception

The film has a 13% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 15 reviews with an average score of 3.86/10. Bruce Demara of ''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

'' awarded the film one and a half stars out of four. Andrew Schenker of '' Time Out'' awarded the film two stars out of five. Nick Schager of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' awarded the film two stars out of four. David Noh of Film Journal International review wrote, "An anti-rom-com in the best sense, Joan Carr-Wiggin's film joyously revives the screwball tradition with real wit, as well as making one fabulously tart female buddy movie."

References

External links

* * English-language Canadian films Canadian comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films 2012 comedy-drama films 2012 films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s British films Films directed by Joan Carr-Wiggin English-language comedy-drama films {{2010s-comedy-drama-film-stub