Sorry but this film was a real disappointment to watch, and with a weird ending to the film. It seems to me this film was only saying "Dont over drink when you have children" which normal people don't that I know of,unless your alcoholic other that nothing els. The writer's needs to rethink about their story lines and ending to keep the people watching their films, you cant complain about the actors they tried to do it Justice. But it was long winded and boring to watch like the old saying you can't flog a dead horse I am sorry to say.That is the reason why I gave this film a marking of only 4 and that was only due to the actors performance which was good.
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kay-rowe-115 August 2006
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petershelleyau7 October 2002This made-for-TV adaptation of the play by Michael Weller is well cast and toplines Kate Nelligan in great form as Elise, the mother of 15 year old Martin (Tobey Maguire) who attempts to reconcile his parents, who appear to be still married, as a form of coming of age.
Weller's treatment is weak where it presents Elise and her husband photographer Andrew (John Heard) as 60's failed radicals, and the division between her passion and his `chilly New England heart' which eventually shames Elise as needing `someone to take care' of her and `disgusting' reads as false. Andrew left Elise and the infant Martin to shoot a `third world coffee table book:' however Elise is the one who is blamed for their separation since she did not wait for Andrew to return, and fleed to Colorado, where we find her as the narrative begins. It is Elise leaving yet another man that leads her to New York where Andrew lives. Andrew is described as `slave to ambition and a prisoner of success', but Elise is a `pipe dreamer' and a `liar' whose repeated `I shall not disappoint' is used for hypocrisy. Director David Greene even gives us a close-up of a glass she carelessly smashes.
Weller does provide Elise with some amusing lines - `I almost learned to cook meatloaf', `The fog lifts', `Penny? You didn't used to settle for such small change', and `Turn the key. Open the lid. Look where all the secrets are hid'. He cracks a New York-style man in the street joke when Martin bumps into a woman who responds `What am I, invisible?!', but a barman's response to Elise `You come right out with it, dontcha?' is too obviously thematic. Weller also has Elise deliver what are presumably his most important lines - `Certain old wounds, even when they seem healed, are still painful to the touch', and `None of us can choose the way we love. Any complaints, see the man in the moon'.
The climax is the reunion of Elise and Andrew, which Nelligan and Heard play superbly, both revealing their pain and attraction. That Greene has Nelligan pursue Heard is not surprising given the text where Elise is the aggressor, but it does highlight ironically the material's stage origins. Nelligan looks beautiful in a black party dress, making her voice scratchy-deep when Elise has been drinking, using a dirty laugh, and dancing to show Elise's sensuality. Heard is a good visual match with Maguire, who makes Martin as complicated as Andrew is unlikeable. As Andrew's girlfriend, Penny (who is actually a lot in spirit like Elise) Andrea Roth is funny and works against the stereotype, and even Rhea Perlman as Elise's friend Emma is impressive. The music score of composer Lawrence Shragge is a little too Masterpiece Theatre, and Greene's other apparent touch is cross-cutting when Martin wants both parents to come to his school day.