Product Details

• Actors: Diane Keaton, Tom Everett Scott, Alexa Davalos, Lauren German, Josh Hopkins
• Directors: Charles McDougall
• Writers: Matthew McDuffie, Meg Wolitzer
• Producers: Diane Keaton, Bill Robinson, Diana Kerew, Larry Levin, Lisa Zupan
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 9, 2006
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000EQ45C4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,639 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Surrender, Dorothy" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Academy Award® Winner Diane Keaton delivers one of the most dynamic and astonishing performances of her career in this moving story about the bonds of friendships, the strength of a mother's love ... and the power of letting go.

With the simple phone greeting "Surrender, Dorothy," Natalie (Keaton) and her daughter Sara (Alexa Davalos) share the most intimate details of their lives. But when Sara's life is tragically cut short by a car accident, Natalie's grief is compounded by a shocking discovery: she may not have known her daughter after all. Determined to unlock the secrets of her daughter's heart, Natalie travels to the ramshackle beach house where Sara spent her summers and camps out with Sara's friends, including longtime childhood pal, Adam (Tom Everett Scott). But can she capture her daughter's essence and, more importantly, find a way to heal?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recollections of Oz, May 28, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surrender, Dorothy (DVD)

Charles McDougall's resume includes directing episodes on 'Sex and the City', 'Desperate Housewives', Queer as Folk', 'Big Love', 'The Office', etc. so he comes with all the credentials to make the TV film version of Meg Wolitzer's novel SURRENDER, DOROTHY a success. And for the most part he manages to keep this potentially sappy story about sudden death of a loved one and than manner in which the people in her life react afloat.

Sara (Alexa Davalos) a beautiful unmarried young woman is accompanying her best friends - gay playwright Adam (Tom Everett Scott), Adam's current squeeze Shawn (Chris Pine), and married couple Maddy (Lauren German) and Peter (Josh Hopkins) with their infant son - to a house in the Hamptons for a summer vacation. The group seems jolly until a trip to the local ice creamery by Adam and Sara) results in an auto accident which kills Sara. Meanwhile Sara's mother Natalie Swedlow (Diane Keaton) who has an active social life but intrusively calls here daughter constantly with the mutual greeting 'Surrender, Dorothy', is playing it up elsewhere: when she receives the phone call that Sara is dead she immediately comes to the Hamptons where her overbearing personality and grief create friction among Sara's friends. Slowly but surely Natalie uncovers secrets about each of them, thriving on talking about Sara as though doing so would bring her to life. Natalie's thirst for truth at any cost results in major changes among the group and it is only through the binding love of the departed Sara that they all eventually come together.

Diane Keaton is at her best in these roles that walk the thread between drama and comedy and her presence holds the story together. The screenplay has its moments for good lines, but it also has a lot of filler that becomes a bit heavy and morose making the actors obviously uncomfortable with the lines they are given. Yes, this story has been told many times - the impact of sudden death on the lives of those whose privacy is altered by disclosures - but the film moves along with a cast pace and has enough genuine entertainment to make it worth watching. Grady Harp, May 06

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Heals, April 30, 2006

By 

Ciaramine "ciaramine" (Barrington Hills, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Surrender, Dorothy (DVD)

A bittersweet story of a mother discovering her own strengths after the sudden death of her beloved daughter. As the mom, Diane Keaton creates a wonderful character who tries to make sense of the death of her only child by inviting herself to spend the summer with her daughter's friends at their summer rental. At first she tries to take control of her daughter's memories, refusing to believe her daughter did not always confide everything to her, and kept many secrets to herself. As the summer progresses, she realizes how much her daughter meant to her friends and slowly surrenders to their comfort.
A wonderful cast and the charm of a seaside town add charm and warmth to this lovely film.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's send Tom Everett Scott off to the old College of Osculation......, July 28, 2006

By 

JUST A REVIEWER2 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surrender, Dorothy (DVD)

Gracious, what a great job reviewer Lawrance M. Bernabo has done in "synop-sizing" this film. But noticeably, no one has mentioned performances (other than some bit or two about the famous Diane Keaton's characterization), so please let me jump in here.

Depth of performance is not this film's strong point. Keaton's work here is kind of "slide by"........just not her best. There's a noticeable tendency to act out in an over-the-top manner---though she's usually able to pull it back in before things get too messy.

Career-wise, Josh Hopkins and Scott, both the same age, share about the same number of filmed performances, with Scott holding an edge in movie productions, as opposed to TV works. These are definitely the male leads of this production, but it is Hopkins, as Peter, who becomes head and shoulders the standout. He is quite, quite good, and it has to be asked why he's not further up the scale of stardom at this point (lack of good agency representation, perhaps). And if there's a breath of fresh air in all this, it's Chris Pine's performance as a ebullient Shawn. He's a cutie, a sweetie, and he shines. Nothing keeps his character down.

Playing gay character, Adam, in this work, Scott is perhaps surprisingly at nowhere near the performance level of those performers already mentioned. His past work experience would lead one to expect otherwise, but, sadly, that is not the case. When Peter calls Adam a "Little Bitch" at one point in the film, he comes very close to describing what is my take on Scott's performance: someone whose characterization is "diva-ish"---which I believe is really over the top, as opposed to the way in which this part should be played. More, when he's not doing that, his delivery just seems flat (see Tom run, see Tom run after Spot). So, for anyone reading this who might have something to do with assisting Scott in selecting future roles, please have him refrain from those involving a gay character. I just don't see that he has it in him; his one gay interaction with another player, a kiss with Shawn, is a disaster (it shouldn't be like giving your grandmother a peck; can't you do better than to give us a lips-glued-shut kiss?). Why take on any role like this if you can't throw yourself into it?

This production, in my opinion, is not one worth the expense of adding to your DVD collection.

****