Richard Jenkins delivers a subtly nuanced performance which deserves Oscar consideration. I'd like to see more work from this wonderful actor, who has the rare ability to bring both humor and depth to everything I've seen him do. "The Visitor" is funny, surprising, poignant, moving and ultimately quite uplifting.
I had not been a big fan of the TV series, having only watched a few episodes, but I did enjoy the movie. It's a decent chick flick even for non-SATC-fans like myself. If you'd like to quickly catch up on the past episodes of the TV show before seeing the movie, you can log on to EW.com and read a brief synopsis of every single episode. That helps to give you a feeling for each character. Even without doing that, I think that most women would still find something to enjoy about this movie. It's a little over 2 hours long, but it moves quickly enough and doesn't feel long.