Pros and cons


Geena Davis was excellent in this movie. Oscar-worthy?

I didn't understand the boys's constant hate and arrogance though. What caused that?

Also, one of the boys was an outright alcoholic. That wouldn't have gone unnoticed by adults the way it did here.

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[deleted]

You don't think alcoholism may go unnoticed by those close to the alcoholic? What fantasy land are you from?

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Which "boys's" constant hate and arrogance? Are you referring to the difficulty they were having in coping with bereavement and loss in a disfunctional family setting?

What behaviour did you see that would indicate that Larry was "an outright alcoholic"?

It seems to me you are making judgements about matters of which you have no knowledge. You certainly know nothing of psychopathology so what makes you believe you are qualified to make comments as you did?

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I watched it again to see whether I had missed something, and I concluded I hadn't.

It's a good movie, but I think you partly get the wrong impressions from it, and you take it too seriously. It's a tragic comedy.

The mother knew fully well about the (supposed) alcoholism. She even says that.

The boys _are_ overly hateful and arrogant. I can't quite understand why, as they had forgotten about their sister, and Gene wasn't really there, and the father was in practice out of the picture as well. They weren't abused or anything.

A few unrealistic scenes. Who would behave like this?
* The brothers crying over Gene.
* Larry's analysis of himself at the end.
* The collective family crying at the end.

The movie intentionally mocks some of its characters. Especially Ray's new wife (forgot her name) is 'drawn' very strangely, like a caricature, as if from the experience from one of the main characters.

I don't understand your point about psychopathology. Who would you say had such ailments?

Alcoholism is not an illness (despite it being trendy to say so). Drinking alcohol (and ingesting other types of drugs) is a way to (try to) cope with fear and anxiety, but ethane is unfortunately addictive too, like drugs tend to be. That doesn't make it an illness. Getting off a drug is hard of course, as the brain is adapted to it and the pleasure center requires it.

And I stand by my statement that Geena does a good job in this movie. Of the adults, she is definitely the highlight. Also Harrison Gilbertsson stood out.

So there. Continue the flaming :).

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Who's flaming? Not me. If you regard someone who disagrees with your statements as flaming you then you have issues of your own.

I certainly agree about Geena Davis. She's always played interesting parts and continues that tradition well with this film.

Please don't decide that you know what I'm taking from a film. It really bugs me when people say things like that. Of course it's a tragi-comedy. That's what it's billed as, and that's what it is. I'm not quite sure how that equates with "taking it too seriously".

Psychopathology is the study of mental illness. Alcoholism produces physical problems, greater as the condition advances, but at root it is a mental aberration. Unless you're an alcoholic, or a member of your family is, you'll never know what is actually involved, and I can assure you that the kid was not an "outright alcoholic". He abused alcohol, for sure, but that doesn't make him an alcoholic. I think you mean ethanol, not ethane. Cars drink ethane.

For the rest of it you need to have more life experience. I intend no slight by that comment, but it's a fact. Most of the family reactions in the film were not unusual in the setting given and any psychologist will confirm that.

The one thing I didn't understand was why Geena's ex got all the blame for the crash. Kids rowing and messing around physically in a car driving in very poor conditions, yet everything's his fault? I don't see it.

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The ex didn't really get the blame for the crash. That was Geena just acting out. He got the blame for being to heart broken himself to help Geena pick up the pieces of what was left of their lives. Geena was angry at him for making her deal with the kids and life on her own.

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I'm about 30 minutes in and the horrible American accents by what are clearly Australian actors is really off putting. How hard is it to emulate an American accent or just get some american actors. Either way, wrecked this movie, it make Geena seem out of place. They may as well have gotten Geena to do an Australian accent, then it would have blended in together. Its performances like these that will start to make casting agents in the states have doubts about casting young Australians because clearly they were unable to sustain a believable American accent.

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