I grew up in a family with an alcoholic parent, and that is the reason why I saw this film. As bad as some of my memories are, this film did nothing for me. It was so poorly directed and slow that any value or impact the story had was watered down. Awards aside, including many nominations, this, as art, was a waste. I think Nick Nolte is a fine method actor. His constant muttering and mumbling made this all the more unbearable. Twitching in my seat to finally get closure, most of the actions portrayed on-screen were going nowhere. James Coburn did an okay job as an abusive drunk, but he, much like the rest of the cast was never allowed to fully bloom in to a character. Painful as it was to watch it wasn't because of the social content as much as the lack of artistic content.