Something like that when Terry Garr is making the chocolate cake then eventually tells them the boyfriend is moving in. The younger boy says something like, "I knew the cake meant trouble."
Kids are very perceptive. And when they grow up in an unstable environment like that they become hypervigilant (which is not paranoia) about things others don't even notice.
"Norma...please...paint something cool today." - Mrs. Bronson
This is a very interesting film. I hadn't seen it in 20 years but I watched it this week as they are playing it on premium channels. Strong performances by Terri Garr and especially Collett as they protective and persecptive 15 year-old who is forced to asssume the role of "man of the house".
I can't help but see a generational theme in this film. The offspring of the hippie-flowerchild-babyboom generation missed out on all the free love and peace, and are instead left to be raised by dysfunctional drug using parents. For all the good things that came out of the the "60s" generation, i.e. cival rights, women's rights etc, a real subversion of the American family unit was the excess baggage. Divorce rates went through the roof as the empowered liberated woman and their spouses thought more about themselves than the well being of their children. I hate to sound bitter, but I lived through this. I remember being a teenager in the 80's and seeing adults (with childlren) doing coke and getting high as if it were a societal norm. Only 25 years removed do I see the kind of situation portayed in this film with more clarity. The free love baby boom generation undermined the structure of American culture, and the aftermath is with us today only expanded geometrically.
Collett's character Jake says it well as he says to Sam;"Hip isn't hip anymore". The juxtaposition of familial roles whereby Jake is forced to become the adult and take charge whereas his mother and her "boyfriend" act as children, is a strong underlying theme.
Very interesting film, even more so now that it can be seen in historical context.
They didn't even need drugs to act this way. And many times those that divorced and remarried ended up divorced again. I finally learned to trust my gut when I think that the "cake [means] trouble," and I'm almost always right.
"I knew the cake meant trouble." - Brian in Firstborn
If you want to know about a grotesquely disfunctional family I recommend that you read the book Running With Scissors or better yet see the movie version. The family in that book/movie makes the Livingston family look like The Cleavers.
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