Allegedly the plot was born to prove that believing in anything, no matter how silly and incongruous, makes people happier.
It's been proved many times that people find consolation in anything that gives them hope and in this story we start with the most hopeless case of Helena, a middle-aged, wealthy housewife abandoned by her husband, Alfie.
Helena is not smart and starts seeing Cristal, a clairvoyant, for comfort. At first, Helena desperately wants Alfie back, but slowly, Cristal convinces her that she can do better.
Helena's daughter, Sally is going through the final stages of her marriage with Roy, a nasty piece of work, who having got lucky with his first book, decided to pursue a writing career, which is proving disastrous.
Their fragile balance is shatter respectively by Sally's new boss, a sexy Banderas as Greg and by female neighbour Dia.
A final wheel is set in motion when Alfie, after much grief in the dating world, hooks up with a call girl and decides to marry her. Like way too many before him, Alfie's in for some nasty surprises.
Things don't go much better for Roy and Sally, with the exception of Helena. Having started as the most unhappy and unlikely to straighten her life, thanks to Cristal's bad advice, but most of all, to her own "faith" in Cristal, Helena ends up as the sole winner of some sort.
To prove once more that life is unfair and chance is more important than intelligence. Good movie, albeit depressing.
