A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

At a New Jersey school reunion, Nathan Zuckerman (David Strathairn) recalls class football hero Swede Levov (Ewan McGregor) but Jerry tells the writer Zuckerman the full story. Nathan is jewish and marries beautiful catholic Dawn Dwyer (Jennifer Connelly) despite his father (Peter Riegert)'s religious objections. He manages his father's glove factory and moves out into the country. They live a decent life and they send their stuttering daughter Merry (Hannah Nordberg) to psychiatrist Sheila Smith (Molly Parker). A teenage Merry (Dakota Fanning) turns radical over the Vietnam war.This is Ewan McGregor's directorial debut. It's probably too ambitious. His lack of experience leaves the movie missing a direction and intensity. It's an epic that is beyond his capabilities. First, I would abandon the wrap-around present day story. The stuttering is problematic. I'm sure that it's part of the novel but it stalls the conversational flow. Aside from the stuttering, some of the dialogue is clunky. This wants so badly to be shocking and emotionally sprawling. It would help to give Dawn more screen time especially after Merry's departure. The hotel scene with Rita is almost comical and Dawn should be there. Dawn's deterioration is too abrupt because the movie doesn't follow her down. Nathan is stuck in a frustrating way. By falling short, this fails through setting the bar too high.

What a strange one this is. The movie strays pretty far from the book, and plays like the weirdest episode of Mad Men never filmed. The tone is unrelentingly dour, and the point is... what? Stuttering leads to radicalization? Don't have a mixed marriage? The 60s were a bitch? It's well done, and the filmmakers' hearts were in the right place but David Strathairn as the Philip Roth character and Ewan McGregor as a Jewish guy? Nope.

This movie has strong characters in it. And I love the fact that Jennifer Connely plays a strong character. Or at least it seems that way (early on she has a great confrontation where she lets her acting muscles play), but unfortunately she has to take a back seat to Ewans character taking center stage later on. Him and Dakota Fannings relationship (also other actress playing his daughter) is elemental for this movie.A movie that is about growing up, about responsibilities and also about choices. And getting to the point of accepting certain things. There's a powerful scene late in the movie with Ewan and Jennifer and another parent that strikes more than a chord. And while these are the best moments, sometimes the movie does seem muddled, trying to hard to make a point/statement. Overall it does succeed though, which comes down to the actors in the main roles. Not an easy watch at all ...

Had no idea McGregor is directing movies! Definitely, the subject of the movie isn't an easy one to direct, but I think he did a great job in portraying the atmosphere of those times... Was extremely surprised by the end of the movie... as i believed too that he was wrong hoping... Thumbs up! Id' like to see more works by McGregor!