Dolores Claiborne (Taylor Hackford) Rating: 2.5 Though I very much liked Kathy Bates' performance in the title role and Hackford's intriguing use of flashbacks, I was never really emotionally involved in the narrative, and I found Jennifer Jason Leigh and David Straithairn--both of whom I usually admire--rather irritating. Also, the film's theme, stated three times by three different female characters, concerns me a little; I don't think "Sometimes being a bitch is the only thing a woman can hold onto" is exactly progressive, though Stephen King apparently does.