On the one hand, it is good to see Lifetime showcasing more quality material. Several years ago, a movie such as "Custody" would have been a rarity on Lifetime. On the other hand, this movie tried to do too much in an hour and three-quarters. There wasn't enough time to deal with the personal issues, so the legal issues got skimmed over lightly. Reviewer Da Rude makes some good points (although rather incoherent, unfortunately). The United States film industry is so fragmented right now. Too many people making ill-considered decisions that affect the quality of the final product. If "Custody" was conceived as the multi-part project which it should have been, the various themes and story lines could have been given the treatment they should have had. As it is, they weren't. Reviewer Da Rude, a resident of London, seems to have problems with US movies. Too bad, but he's right about this: The US film industry is going through a lot of turmoil right now. It has happened before, and the results have always been stronger output in the end. As far as "Custody" is concerned, Lifetime needs to be encouraged to press forward with the quality material, most particularly with quality actors such as Viola Davis. Having first-rate actors such as Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Kalember and Tony Shalhoub doing smaller roles needs to be seen in a positive light for TV movies. (The broadcast networks gave up on them years ago; reality shows and a LOT of American football have, sadly, pushed them aside.) "Custody" must be evaluated for the good direction it is taking. We need more such efforts.
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Director and writer James Lapine did a decent job with this screenplay. Sure this story has been done many times over, but having the wonderful and impactful Viola Davis in this film gave it that extra little boost it needed. Although the slow pacing could not be saved by Viola, the story in its entirety was pretty good. Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it? Sure, if I know someone likes this type of film. It's a 7/10 from me.
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I watched this, along with 2 other movies, this past week off the Lifetime Roku channel, and while the other 2 ("From Straight A's to XXX" and the Britney Spears one) were your usual laughable Lifetime fair, this one was actually pretty good. Viola Davis, who just won the "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar for "Fences", really steals the show here, showing how a judge's personal life can not only affect her attitude in the courtroom, but maybe even, to a certain extent, her sentencing? This had a really good ensemble cast for a Lifetime original; and I was sorta surprised, and maybe disappointed, that "Monk" himself, Tony Shalhoub, was kinda under-used in this?? Catalina Santino Maria (if I have that name right?), the star of "Maria Full of Grace", Dan Fogler (in a rare serious role, perhaps showcasing a future romantic leading man series of roles?), Hayden Paynettiere, etc.. co-star.
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krocheav9 June 2018Award winning writer/director James Lapine pulls out all stops with this full on study of the US Family Law Court: its employees, several various related services, & families involved with some of its outcomes. This quite powerful production has the look of a made for Cinema feature that went straight to TV. Performances are first class, as is the cinematography and music score. Lapine has included many story elements (too many perhaps?) giving it the feel of a pilot for yet another upcoming endless series (thank heavens it was all wrapped up in a feature) & while there are unresolved situations, we know enough to fill in the spaces. Good looking and absorbing - can recommend 'Custody' for any lover of dramatic studies that deal with contemporary social issues.
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mgconlan-16 March 2017Two nights ago I watched an especially compelling movie on Lifetime: "Custody," which they identified as a "Premiere" (not a "World Premiere"!) even though, judging from the stellar names both in front of and behind the camera — Viola Davis and Hayden Panettiere are the writers and the writer/director is James Lapine, best known for writing the books for Stephen Sondheim's musicals "Sunday in the Park with George," "Into the Woods" and "Passion" — and also from the frequent blipping of swear words, I assume this film was intended for theatrical release. Sara Diaz (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a single mother with two kids, son David (Jaden Michael) and daughter Tia (Bryce Lorenzo — a girl named Bryce?). When David comes to school with bruises that indicate his mom may have abused him, the school calls New York's Child Protective Services department, who immediately take both David and Tia away from Sara and schedule her for a hearing in family court either to set conditions for their return or remove them permanently. Sara is not surprisingly totally freaked out by this, especially when she ends up in the courtroom of formidable Judge Martha Schulman (Viola Davis) and a blonde woman from an upper-class background, Alexandra "Ally" Fisher (Hayden Panettiere), is appointed to be her attorney. Judge Schulman is conducting the hearing at such a rapid pace that Ally has to take the case without knowing the slightest thing about what it is, let alone having a chance to confer with her client in advance. The young, naïve 25-year- old lawyer is up against no fewer than three people on the other side: a woman counsel appointed as a guardian ad litem to represent the best interest of the kids; Santoro (Raúl Esparza from the current cast of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," playing essentially the same character, a relentless prosecutor), representing Child Protective Services; and Keith Denholz (Dan Fogler), representing New York City's office of corporate counsel (essentially their version of a city attorney) and if anything even more determined to take Sara's kids away from her than Santoro is. (He's also got the hots for Ally and makes a series of embarrassingly crude passes at her.)
Santoro is especially up against it because on the last case he worked, he recommended returning a 5-year-old to the mother as she was coming out of drug rehab — only mom relapsed almost immediately, left the kid alone at home while she went out to "party," and the child died of starvation. So he's clearly bending over backwards to give Sara a hard time next she and her children be the next black mark on her résumé. As for Keith, he keeps springing surprise documents on the court, including a revelation that Sara has a criminal record for drug possession — her ex-husband Shawn (Sharrieff Pugh), father of David and Tia, was a drug dealer and smuggler who's currently serving a prison sentence, though he hid one of his drug shipments in Tia's diaper bag and that got Sara charged with being part of his drug operation. The charges were eventually dropped but they weren't expunged from her record, and Keith dredges them up again. Judge Schulman recommends that Sara get tested for drugs, and Ally assures her, "That's only to make sure you're not using cocaine or heroin" — only the test turns out positive, not for cocaine and heroin but for marijuana and PCP (Sara was with friends and family when they passed around a PCP-laced joint and she took a hit, then agreed to the drug test because she didn't realize, and Ally didn't tell her, it was for pot as well), and Keith drops that as yet another bombshell to keep Sara for getting her kids. Sara's biggest obstacle is her hair-trigger temper (that should be a lesson for me!) that causes her to blow up in court — when she finally admits that she struck her son in anger because he wouldn't behave, we believe it — and at one point Judge Schulman orders her into anger management classes.
What's most fascinating about this movie is how it counterpoints the main plot with the family dysfunctions of the characters around them: the gimmick is that just about everyone in the court system charged with making decisions about Sara and whether she's a fit parent for her kids has their own family problems. Aside from the marvelous irony that all these authority figures are trying to tell Sara how to raise her kids when their own family lives are falling apart, "Custody" is a good illustration of mystery writer and former child protective services worker Abigail Padgett's comment to me that never, if you can possibly avoid it, allow yourself or your children to be caught up in these sorts of systems because the systems have their own priorities, and those aren't likely to be yours. "Custody" has been criticized for its plethora of plot lines — though I found that for once a movie or TV show with multiple plot lines used those strands to reinforce each other and add to the dramatic point, not just to confuse people or seem like they're being "post-modern." It's an excellent movie and one which should have got a theatrical release; it also ran 2 ½ hours less commercials, not Lifetime's standard two hours, which had me worrying that they were going to make it part one of a serial (or, even worse, the pilot for a series — it wasn't at all clear from the promos Lifetime ran for it whether it was a stand-alone film or a TV series), but no-o-o-o-o, it was a stand-alone TV-movie with a satisfying if a not altogether happy ending, and it was very much worth watching and several cuts above the Lifetime norm. -
tolona1 April 2017I must say that I was more than pleasantly surprised by the production quality of this film, together with a compelling story line superbly acted. I even enjoyed the soundtrack, which emphasized emotion at just the right time.
With names like Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, Ellen Burstyn and Tony Shalhoub, I was wondering why I missed it at the theaters. However, it was premiered by Lifetime and was never released theatrically (although it certainly should have been).
Catalina Sandino Moreno turns in an excellent performance as the mother of two children facing a dilemma, the outcome of which is uncertain, causing pain nearly impossible to endure. The children and their friends all contributed very believable performances along with the rest of the cast. There was not one moment in this movie where I sensed a fake, forced or unbelievable character.
Although the plot is multi-faceted and highlights the lives of a number of the characters, it remains interesting and compelling throughout. It is a film with a great deal of character, feeling and emotion. In the end you will feel glad that you watched this movie. I am pretty harsh when it comes to TV movies, yet this is a rare exception that deserved to have a much wider audience. 9 of 10 stars! -
anthonysaponaro1 April 2018I rarely comment on shows I watch but for some strange reason I felt I had to. I think all of the actors and actresses did an awesome job ! It is not an action movie so if you're looking for that, you're out of luck. I enjoyed the story and each person cast seemed to fulfill their role brilliantly. Especially Viola Davis, wish they would have focused a little more on her issue and Hayden's we never really got closure . . . . Overall excellent, can't really say a bad thing about it.
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Let me first get my angst out of the way. I'm referring to the useless review contributed by "Da Rude". It should read "Duh Rude". Unfortunately, I had to read the review three times to try to comprehend what the point was. To no avail. You sound like you have a problem with U.S. Made motion pictures, the Academy, and simply enjoy griping. Do you have a personal agenda against someone involved in the making of this film??
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. As the other people contributing reviews of this film have essentially rated this an average "9", thus far, I agree. I've not to date, seen a performance less then excellent by Viola Davis and this film is no different. She just has a way of bringing real emotion to the screen as well as delivering a performance that gets you right in the chest. Her Co Stars do a terrific job as well and I felt the story was moving and thought provoking. It is no easy task telling a story about the legal separation of a child/children from a parent/parents. It is, obviously, a very tough subject to tackle and one which many people take a divisive stance on.
IMO, illustrating the dramatic course one navigates from the perspective's of a single Mother, Judge and all the people involved in doing a job aimed at protecting the welfare of children is not an easy one. Custody" does so with realism, empathy, and humanity.
This is not a feel good movie. It is not intended to be. It is, however, very much so worth watching and I believe most will get a glimpse into the tough process this film tackles, and will walk away happy they did. -
Amari-Sali6 March 2017In the film, there are a huge amount of unresolved story lines you'd like to see more of. Be it how Sara is going to help her children heal after being separated from them, how Martha is going to deal with what is happening in her personal life, between her father, husband, and son and then Alexandra's mess. Considering how her grandmother talks about the family secret and her, Alexandra, threatening to tell her dad, the fact you don't get to see the conclusion of that story-line, you almost feel like this was a pilot that didn't get picked up. However, because there was so much shot for the show, and with Viola getting major accolade nominations, Lifetime decided to edit the footage they had into a movie.
Luckily, for those who may be interested in a story like this, Shondaland is working on a legal drama which sounds oddly similar. -
Outstanding film showcasing the interpersonal relationships of people working and involved in family court regarding children.
Everyone here from the judge to the defendant has his own personal story of woe; however, we do rise above a Peyton Place mentality.
As the judge, Viola Davis turns in a great performance in finding out about her unfaithful husband and thinking back to the brother she lost from a heroine overdose.
We see the shortcomings of the ACS agency with their delays, foul-ups and sometimes tragedy ensuing.
We see a brand new lawyer assigned to a case where a mother disciplining her child is thought to have abused the child. We see what this mother has to go through in court due to legal hang-ups and a system stretched to the limit.
Nothing is sugar-coated here including the ending. -
Stoshie12 September 2020I guess people don't read the information given here about films, but this was not a Lifetime movie. It was shown on Lifetime, to be sure, but it was edited to fit in their time frame. The movie is 1 hour and 44 minutes long. Lifetime condenses movies to under 90 minutes to fit in all their commercials. So we who saw it on Lifetime did not see the complete movie. Also, the movie was made in Spain, which should have made it obvious it was not a Lifetime production.
Anyway, aside from the reviews from people who didn't understand the origins of this movie, I have to agree with most of the reviews of the movie itself. The acting was good, even if Catalina Moreno was a bit over the top sometimes. The story line was good, too, showing how family courts are often overworked and understaffed, leading to all people being treated the same, regardless of their circumstances.
My only complaint is that I wish I could see the entire movie, instead of the edited one shown on Lifetime. -
danicamarie-4526028 October 2020I watched this film today because I could relate to the description. This movie has a lot of emotion especially if you have a connection with the actresses. There are examples of just how easy it is for CPS to take your children away based on lies, assumptions or allegations.
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nancy-riggs14 October 2017I really liked this movie: Warning spoiler alert: However, I thought for sure this movie was a set up for a TV series or mini drama. A lot of unanswered questions at the ending. The judges colleague insinuates she is drinking to much and she leaves the Christmas party with a lonely haunting face. Did the public defender tell her father that her uncle touched her as a child or did the grandmother step up?
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lavatch31 March 2023As a form of dramatic expression, the term "kitchen sink" refers to a gritty style of realism exposing vital social issues with an authenticity in the dialogue, locations, and interpersonal relationships.
While the film's title of "Custody" implied that this was a drama about the legal system, the film had a much wider tapestry of situations and ideas. Some of the most vivid moments were the most mundane instances of human interaction, such as an unexpected opening up of a granddaughter to her grandmother.
Led by Viola Davis as the judge, the cast was superb with every role carefully conceived and integral to the action. Each moment of the court scenes had a ring of truth and the unanticipated occurrences that would typically appear in a real trial.
With carefully selected footage from New York and interior scenes that projected natural environments, "Custody" was a sensitive and thought-provoking drama etched carefully with every detail of the kitchen sink.