Viewed in
2007
Premise
Debra Winger and Shirley MacClaine play a mother-daughter duo in a love/hate relationship.
Who should watch
Chick flick lovers?
Thoughts
I really liked the first half. Anyone who has a paranoid parent could relate to Shirley MacClaine's great performance. In fact, there were a lot of themes that people could relate to in a not-so-perfect family, which is pretty much everyone in the world. Some of it was hard to believe, but very entertaining. The chemistry between Debra Winger, MacClaine, Jack Nicholson and Jeff Daniels made their characters likable. Nicholson's presence itself is capable of stealing the show, but he gave a nice, toned-down performance.
One thing that bugged me was MacClaine's character's motivation. I understand her paranoia, but I don't understand some of her other behaviors to her daughter, especially in terms of her husband. Perhaps I'll understand when I'm older.
But the main problem I had was the second half went into drama mode out of nowhere. The sadness and struggle was well done. Nevertheless, it was a complete 180 from the first half.
What I would change
Set the tone earlier that this film was a tragic-comedy.
