The 24 Hour Woman

By RICHARD CORLISS

So much is made of the complexities of modern motherhood that you wonder: In the past, did people actually have kids, and raise them competently? Grace Santos (Rosie Perez), a new mother and producer of an a.m. TV show, asks herself this question in the spare moments when she's not auditioning for a nervous breakdown. The film rings true to the desperations that pile on any frazzled working mom; but the tone is wearying, and the film looks peaked, ratty, as if it had been up all night in a bad mood. Perez, a born beguiler, has little chance to charm, let alone relax; even the actress's dimples seem like worry lines. By the end, she and the movie have become so exasperating that they both deserve to be sent to bed without supper.

--R.C.