Plot
An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
Release Year: 1994
Rating: 6.2/10 (9,935 voted)
Director:
Luis Mandoki
Stars: Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia, Ellen Burstyn
Storyline An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
Writers: Ronald Bass, Al Franken
Cast: Andy Garcia
-
Michael Green
Meg Ryan
-
Alice Green
Ellen Burstyn
-
Emily
Tina Majorino
-
Jess Green
Mae Whitman
-
Casey Green
Lauren Tom
-
Amy
Philip Seymour Hoffman
-
Gary
Eugene Roche
-
Walter
Gail Strickland
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Pam
Steven Brill
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Madras Tie Guy
Susanna Thompson
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Janet
Erinn Canavan
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Shannon
LaTanya Richardson
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Dr. Gina Mendez
(as Latanya Richardson)
Bari K. Willerford
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Malcolm
James Jude Courtney
-
Earl
Taglines:
What Love Built A Secret Could Destroy...
Trivia:
The original title was "Significant Other".
Goofs:
Factual errors:
When Michael approaches Amy and her family in the Asian restaurant, the caption says they are speaking Chinese. They are actually speaking Vietnamese.
Quotes: Michael Green:
My wife is an alcoholic. Best person I ever met. She has 600 different smiles. They can light up your life. They can make you laugh out loud, just like that. They can even make you cry, just like that. That's just with her smiles. You'd have to see her with her kids. You'd have to see how they look at her, when she's not looking. To think of all the things she lives through, and I couldn't help her. Alice Green:
Maybe helping wasn't your job. Michael Green:
Well, it wasn't. See I love her. And I tried everything, except really listening, really listening, and that's how I left her alone. I was so ashamed of that, and I couldn't even tell her. Maybe if I tell her she'd love me anyway.
[...]
User Review
A Highly Underrated Film
Rating: 10/10
When first renting this film, I expected to see a typical love story. I
found, instead, a film that truly attempted to accurately display what
happens in relationships where one member has a drinking problem. It is
powerful and shows the true pain and confusing that often looms over these
situations.
Rather than sending Alex to detox and having her come home happy, she came
home very confused about life and what she was doing. This is one of the
many ways this film reflects true life. My only qualm is the ending.
Rather than keeping true to the story, the filmmakers seemed to give up and
ended it on a happy, superficial note. Despite this letdown, I love this
film and everything it tries to communicate.
Meg Ryan's performance is one of the underrated of the decade. She should
have received on Oscar nomination for it and was certainly better than
Jessica Lange that year. I have read a few comments here saying she did a
terrible job. I would ask these people to define what a good performance is
to them. Not only did Ryan communicate every possible feeling that a woman
in Alex's situation could have, she did it with style and ease. Not only
that, but made a dramatic move with this film from her already great
performances in romantic comedy. Ryan should be applauded for taking such a
huge risk and having it pay off.
Andy Garcia also has a tremendous performance in this film. He too displays
very complex emotions of a faulted man with skill.
The one aspect of this film that I love so much is how no character is
faultless in the whole situation. All members have contributed to the
problem, and all must face up to what they did and try to improve what they
have. I don't know if this makes much sense (I feel my thoughts are
jumbled). In one simple statement: SEE THIS MOVIE. THE TITLE DOES NOT
ACCURATELY DISPLAY THE MOVIE IT TRULY IS. The title makes it sound like
another sappy love story. What the viewer gets is a tremendous study of the
damage alcoholism can bring to a family.
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