Rose Troche assembled a terrific cast for "The Safety of Objects," a look at four neighboring families based on the stories of A.M. Homes. Die hard Homes fans should be prepared: the middle-class crack smoking couple Paul and Elaine from the story "Adults Alone" does not make an appearance; otherwise, Troche, who also wrote the screenplay, did a masterful job amalgamating a huge host of characters into one coherent story, capturing a caustic yet affectionate look at the American suburbs.

Glenn Close, as Esther Gold, the grieving mother of a comatose son (Joshua Jackson) manages to convey some added edge to conventional on-screen grieving. "If you are ever in a prayer situation with Him, be specific," she tells the conflicted Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney), a lawyer who inexplicably dedicates himself to helping Esther win an SUV at a mall in a radio promotion contest for her non-comatose daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell, "Election"). "Guilt is alive and well," the radio DJ proclaims, one of many laugh-out-loud lines in this film.

It's easy enough to think that the suburbs have been covered ad nauseam, and that after the Oscar winning success of "American Beauty" it's dead territory. But there is a rich world of love, pain and perversion in the shopping malls and behind the closed doors of middle class homes, and "The Safety of Objects" contains continuous surprises.

Patricia Clarkson, Mary Kay Place, Robert Klein, Timothy Olyphant, and Moira Kelly round out the talented, ensemble cast, but the kids are the ones to watch. Newcomer Alex House takes a big career move as a conflicted adolescent who falls desperately in love with his sister's doll Tani.