From yahoo state trooper to veteran record producer, Frances McDormand can do it all. Her's was one Academy Award well-earned. And it's McDormand who breathes life into "Laurel Canyon," an otherwise ho-hum story of a couple in trouble.

Sam (Christian Bale) and Alex (Kate Beckinsale) appear to have the perfect relationship. Both young and attractive (and apparently not wanting for cash), they live in ritzy Cambridge, where both recently graduated medical school. Alex is working on her thesis in genomics and Sam has decided to take an internship in Los Angeles, where his mother Jane (McDormand) works as a record producer.

It's fine for Alex; it doesn't matter where she works as long as it's got a desk and computer. But Sam is worried about how things will go with Jane, who has been no stranger to messed up relationships, drugs and the fast living of the rock and roll world. He doesn't want Alex to be distracted from her work.

When they arrive at the Laurel Canyon house that Jane has promised would be vacant and all theirs, Alex and Sam instead find Sam's mom engrossed in a project in the home's studio with an English band led by Ian McKnight (Alessandro Nivola).

Every day when Sam goes off to work, Alex stays behind to hammer away at her thesis. Meanwhile, she begins to grow intrigued by the sounds of Jane and the band working and smells the wafting smoke as it rises from below. Soon, she's spending more time in the studio than with her genomics.

At the same time, Sam is growing close to an attractive and attracted co-worker, Sara (Natascha McElhone), and it becomes more and more apparent that Jane isn't the main distraction in their lives -- as Sam has feared -- but potential new love interests.

Can they fight the temptation and save their relationship?

That's the crux of "Laurel Canyon," the second feature from writer and
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