I loved this movie.  I saw it at the theatre when it first came out, and was left in the theatre once everyone else had gone trying to mop up after myself.  It was so sad.  The little boy broke my heart when he had his last talk with his mom (Susan Sarandon).  Basically, Julia Roberts and Ed Harris are an item and his ex is Sarandon.  His kids don't like Julia, Julia and Susan don't like each other, but through predictability, a personal tragedy brings them all together (as you can imagine).  So apart from the predictabilitly, this is an excellent film that will make you laugh, cry and bawl.  I thought it was really well acted, and don't read those negative reviews if they didn't like this.  This movie is for people with hearts.