Great performances (spoilers)

I thought the performances by Craig T. Nelson, Morgan Weisser, and Blair Brown (the mother) were great. Maybe the one by Samantha Mathis (Laura) was, too, but I guess I'm not as interested in the teen element of the film. I'm more into David's relationships with his parents than his relations with others his age, though the way his relationship with Laura developed was nice.

The reconciliation between David and his father at the end has to be one of the most powerful things I've seen in film or in real life. Very uplifting. It says so much about our need to understand and forgive others different from ourselves. Clearly, David took after his mother in temperament, and it was hard for him to forgive his father. Nelson's performance made it believable that David could forgive at the end, at least tentatively.

This is a film I've wanted to find for almost 20 years. An interesting thing is that I didn't really watch it in 1990, but mainly overheard it from the next room as my father watched it. But as I listened, I got more and more gripped by the story.

It's a great story about fathers.

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."