When a Man Loves a Woman
2/4
Starring: Andy Garcia, Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Mae Whitman, Lauren Tom
Rated R for Language
Alcoholism is a pervasive disease. Under the right circumstances, it can strike anyone. There is no cure, only treatment. Millions of people have it. Actor Chris Klein. The late actor Chris Farley. Actor Joaquin Phoenix. Actor Ben Affleck. Actress Eileen Brennan. And, the character Alice Green.
Alice (Ryan) and Michael Green (Garcia) are a loving couple living in San Francisco. They have two beautiful daughters: Jess (Majorino) and Casey (Whitman). Alice is a lively and vivacious school counselor who likes to party while Michael is an airline pilot, a job that keeps him away from his family for days at a time. But Alice isn't just a hard partier; she's an alcoholic. Michael is aware of his wife's tendency to drink too much, but not fully aware of how bad her drinking problem is. It isn't until she tries to cure a hangover with aspirin and vodka and passes out in front of her daughter that he understands that this isn't something that she can handle by herself. She goes to rehab, but her sobriety presents a new set of problems.
The problem with this film is that it exists purely on a superficial level. Alice and Michael aren't real people; they're stick figures who do things to fit the writers' need to explain how alcoholism affects a family. The film would have been a lot more effective if the script had been able to camouflage its desire to detail how alcoholism is truly a family disease more effectively, and added some scenes where Michael and Alice don't just talk about the point that the script needs to convey. There are a few of the latter, but the writing, by the usually reliable Ronald Bass and SNL-actor/writer Al Franken (who has extensive experience with alcoholism and AA/Al-Anon) is shallow.
The acting is variable, although that is due in part to the weak script. Meg Ryan, always a strong actress, does what she can with the role, but there's not much that can be done by anyone. Andy Garcia, on the other hand, is at times embarrassingly bad. Garcia is an actor of limited range. His skills lie with low-key intensity, not tearjerker roles. In "When a Man Loves a Woman," he plays an everyman, which requires more skill than one might assume. With Garcia in the role, it's not a pretty sight, although he did do something similar to much better effect in "The Man from Elysian Fields." More life and energy is needed, and his attempts at crying are about as bad as Taylor Lautner's in last year's stinker "Abduction." The actresses who play their daughters, Tina Majorino and Mae Whitman, are good. Majorino, the former child star from the seal movie "Andre" and Kevin Costner's ego legendary flop (although that's really an inaccurate term) "Waterworld" is particularly good. She's the only one I really felt for. Mae Whitman, who has gone on to be a young character actress, makes a good debut. Both of them occasionally suffer from dialogue that forces them to become too cute, despite their attempts to be otherwise.
The film's director is Luis Mandoki, a mediocre (he directed the Charlize Theron flop "Trapped") Mexican filmmaker who ventured North at the beginning of the nineties. His attempts to get the tear ducts running are occasionally shameless, which is disrespectful to those who suffer from alcoholism in any form. He does manage an effective scene every now and then, such as when Alice has a bad day and Michael gets frustrated because she isn't able to tell him why. This scene works because Garcia is able to show some energy.
Mandoki also has a tendency to use musical montages, which hurts the film even more. Used effectively, they can carry emotions over large time lapses in the film. Here, they're a crutch; probably because Mandoki realizes how thin the script actually is. Whatever the reasons, it doesn't work.
Ultimately however, the film doesn't work because the script turns it into a message movie instead of a film about two people dealing with one person's alcoholism.
Starring: Andy Garcia, Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Mae Whitman, Lauren Tom
Rated R for Language
Alcoholism is a pervasive disease. Under the right circumstances, it can strike anyone. There is no cure, only treatment. Millions of people have it. Actor Chris Klein. The late actor Chris Farley. Actor Joaquin Phoenix. Actor Ben Affleck. Actress Eileen Brennan. And, the character Alice Green.
Alice (Ryan) and Michael Green (Garcia) are a loving couple living in San Francisco. They have two beautiful daughters: Jess (Majorino) and Casey (Whitman). Alice is a lively and vivacious school counselor who likes to party while Michael is an airline pilot, a job that keeps him away from his family for days at a time. But Alice isn't just a hard partier; she's an alcoholic. Michael is aware of his wife's tendency to drink too much, but not fully aware of how bad her drinking problem is. It isn't until she tries to cure a hangover with aspirin and vodka and passes out in front of her daughter that he understands that this isn't something that she can handle by herself. She goes to rehab, but her sobriety presents a new set of problems.
The problem with this film is that it exists purely on a superficial level. Alice and Michael aren't real people; they're stick figures who do things to fit the writers' need to explain how alcoholism affects a family. The film would have been a lot more effective if the script had been able to camouflage its desire to detail how alcoholism is truly a family disease more effectively, and added some scenes where Michael and Alice don't just talk about the point that the script needs to convey. There are a few of the latter, but the writing, by the usually reliable Ronald Bass and SNL-actor/writer Al Franken (who has extensive experience with alcoholism and AA/Al-Anon) is shallow.
The acting is variable, although that is due in part to the weak script. Meg Ryan, always a strong actress, does what she can with the role, but there's not much that can be done by anyone. Andy Garcia, on the other hand, is at times embarrassingly bad. Garcia is an actor of limited range. His skills lie with low-key intensity, not tearjerker roles. In "When a Man Loves a Woman," he plays an everyman, which requires more skill than one might assume. With Garcia in the role, it's not a pretty sight, although he did do something similar to much better effect in "The Man from Elysian Fields." More life and energy is needed, and his attempts at crying are about as bad as Taylor Lautner's in last year's stinker "Abduction." The actresses who play their daughters, Tina Majorino and Mae Whitman, are good. Majorino, the former child star from the seal movie "Andre" and Kevin Costner's ego legendary flop (although that's really an inaccurate term) "Waterworld" is particularly good. She's the only one I really felt for. Mae Whitman, who has gone on to be a young character actress, makes a good debut. Both of them occasionally suffer from dialogue that forces them to become too cute, despite their attempts to be otherwise.
The film's director is Luis Mandoki, a mediocre (he directed the Charlize Theron flop "Trapped") Mexican filmmaker who ventured North at the beginning of the nineties. His attempts to get the tear ducts running are occasionally shameless, which is disrespectful to those who suffer from alcoholism in any form. He does manage an effective scene every now and then, such as when Alice has a bad day and Michael gets frustrated because she isn't able to tell him why. This scene works because Garcia is able to show some energy.
Mandoki also has a tendency to use musical montages, which hurts the film even more. Used effectively, they can carry emotions over large time lapses in the film. Here, they're a crutch; probably because Mandoki realizes how thin the script actually is. Whatever the reasons, it doesn't work.
Ultimately however, the film doesn't work because the script turns it into a message movie instead of a film about two people dealing with one person's alcoholism.
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