An Australian family with more than its share of eccentricities comes together and tries to set aside their differences in the comic drama Soft Fruit. Patsy (Jeannie Drynan) is the mother of four grown children who has learned she's dying of cancer. While her husband Vic (Linal Haft) is ambivalent about Patsy's condition, her kids are concerned enough to all visit her, marking the first time in 15 years the entire family has been under one roof. Josie (Genevieve Lemon) arrives from the United States with her Australian accent gone and two children in tow. Nadia (Sacha Horler), a single mother since her recent divorce, comes by with her son, but keeps sneaking off for assignations with her ex-husband. Vera (Alicia Talbot), who lives close by, is a nurse who is more single than she'd like to be. And Bo (Russell Dykstra) hangs out with a biker gang when he's not in jail; he's been released on special parole to visit his mother due to her condition. With the family together for a change, the sisters look after their mother, Bo sleeps in a storage shed, and Vic uses the fruit trees in the yard for target practice. Mom, however, has some ideas of her own about how she'd like to spend her final days. Soft Fruit marked the directorial debut of Christina Andreef, who previously served as an assistant to Jane Campion; Campion was executive producer for this project.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide