Maureen and Eddie seem like a pair of losers, they live without purpose, to most of us, yet what is amazing is they are in love, a love that is not shared, even with their own child. You wonder how this can be? It is a story about two persons who live life on the edge, yet have a binding, perhaps blinding love. They are two of a kind and both know it.
Before Eddie goes off to the mental institution, where he spends ten years, Maureen enters a secure marriage with a man who she does not really love her the way Eddie had; it is more a marriage of convenience and Joey, played excellent by John Travolta, is a husband who feels his wife owes him for saving her from a life of debauchery.
As hard as it seems imaginable, she never loves him, in fact, she resents him for changing her. Maureen is not a typical woman by any means; she dislikes Middle-Class life and being a housewife, as she is unfit to have a career. Same with Eddie, he may have improved some after ten years in a hospital; however, he is back to his drinking and slumming, which appeals to Maureen.
We find this strange love off-beat, yet it does happen in real life. This film is very strange, yet realistic for a small minority of persons who eschew the value of stability and security. Maureen has always loved Eddie more than Joey, and as hard as it is to imagine, she leaves her children, her home, and stable husband for the love she has only found with Eddie.
It is really a better film than most think, because it shows a side of life that seems so undesirable. It is as sad as it is fulfilling for the two long parted lovers. It funds itself in an unfamiliar territory, yet this does happen and as much as most feel it is a waste of life, it reveals the nature of individuality.
I think Penn went out on a limb making this film, it is much like abstract art, it can only be appreciated by those who see past the social conventions most adhere; they are not ordinary people and may end up broken unhealthy middle-aged alcoholics, but they live for today.
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