I'll say it right out,because it's a fact. I don't deal well with the topic of "the end". See? I can't even say the word that this very film is about because,as Morrie Schwartz might have said,"You haven't learned how to deal with it."
Yet,this movie,which is about as sad as any movie can get,captured my full interest for the entire hour and a half. Those that don't know Morrie Schwartz was a real person,a college professor. After having such a rich,full giving life,he comes down with Lou Gehrig's disease,a horrid,disabling sickness that basically shuts down the functions of the body until said victim is no more. (Boy can I tap dance around unpleasantness or what?)
Unlike the TV-movies of the week of yesteryear that made people more uncomfortable with their subject than helping them understand it better,"Tuesdays With Morrie" just spells it out straight and to the point. Characters in other movies like this would be based on somebody,which could be why it's hard to sympathize. Jack Lemmon is portraying the last months of a "real" man's life,a man who ended up talking to Ted Koppel on "Nightline",as well as a nationwide audience.
Hank Azaria (Voice of Moe on "The Simpsons")does a fantastic acting job here,most likely better than most people might have expected if they knew he was from The Simpsons. Here's a man who gave up his dream of playing concert piano to cover the sports world,which at times can be no better than being a member of the paparazzi. A job that leaves him little time for his girlfriend,who starts to feel she'll never fit into his hectic life.
With Mitch having seen Morrie on TV,he decides to revisit his former mentor,whom he hasn't seen since 1978,after graduation. One visit turns into another and Morrie's discussions with Mitch turn into a tape-recorded thesis that Mitch can apply to change a life he's not very happy with.
Most that are uncomfortable watching scenes of what a person in Morrie's condition goes through...they're not graphic like they might be in a theatrical release,they're accurate but nothing that might make one cover their eyes. The important thing to pay attention to in this movie is the honest truths that Morrie is giving,not just as a help to Mitch but as something all can benefit from.
Maybe those truths are what kept me watching,because,like Mitch,I have trouble dealing with certain issues of life as well...as we "all" do. In answering why this movie is "bashed" by others:
One reason is that it's an Oprah Winfrey production. She's famous and it's always easy to make fun of the famous for whatever reason. In this case (mostly guys I'd assume)think of her films as "for women or weak men".
There's nothing at all weak about this film,it's one of the strongest TV-Movie's of the latter 20th Century. Jack Lemmon really "becomes" Morrie Schwartz so convincingly you forget that it is Jack. The second reason,sort of mentioned above,it's a subject that doesn't sit easily with people and most just dismiss it as a "disease of the week" piece.
Again,it is not so. Whomever came up with that term,must be a very unsympathetic type of individual,all diseases that humans suffer from are serious and not to be taken lightly. Some films have unfortunately overstated their case by being maudlin but,last time...not "Morrie".
I may even watch it again,which would be another first for me,for this type of movie. In all said above,this is a ten star movie and should not be regarded as anything less than excellent television,as well as an excellent look at real life. (END)
