When you look up “80’s tear jerker” in the dictionary there’s a picture of this movie. I’m not one to cry at movies, but if I were, then I would have been bawling. It’s kind of a comedy/drama, with a lot of laugh out loud moments, but by the end I was really sad. It’s a great cast: Danny Devtio, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow, Shirley Mclaine, Jeff Daniels. And the acting was amazing. At first, McLaine’s character, Aurora, is seen as the “bad guy”. She’s an overbearing mother who is way too critical of her daughter who says, “Sure would be nice to have a mother somebody liked”. She won’t go to her daughter’s wedding because she doesn’t approve of her husband Flap (played by Jeff Daniels), she won’t congratulate her on being pregnant, and she treats all her males suitors like dirt.
And, then there’s the crazy, ex-astronaut neighbor, Garret (Jack Nicholson). He is absolutely repulsive for the first hour or so. He hits on younger girls, he’s vulgar, and all around an unsavory character.
Flap starts out as a fun loving, smart, hard working college professor. But the marriage starts to break down. Emma (Debra Winger) thinks he’s having an affair, she doesn’t have enough money to pay for groceries, and she’s getting pregnant every 2 years (she has three kids by the end of the movie). Aurora starts having a fling with the astronaut, who actually turns out to be a good guy, and life seems to be ok. But, all is not well.
In the end, Flap makes the family move to Nebraska. Then, Emma gets cancer, their marriage falls apart, and the whole thing gets depressing. But, she has a support system, her husbands does really love her, her mom really is a caring person, the astronaut comes through, and well, things could be worse.
Oh, yeah, forgot John Lithgow. Apparently he was a stand in for another actor who backed out. He filmed his part in this movie during a few days break from filming
“Footloose”. His character is a rather charming banker whom Emma has an affair with in Des Moines.
Great movie. 5 stars, two thumbs
up… could make it on to my list of favorite movies of all time.Check out the trailer:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=49104
1 comment:
Without this movie we never would have had Beaches and Bette Midler singing "The Wind Beneath My Wings"
You can decide for yourself if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
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