Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

the audience applauded

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Airline pilot Michael Green (Andy Garcia) seems to have a perfect family with wife Alice (Meg Ryan), stepdaughter Jess (Tina Majorino), and daughter Casey (Mae Whitman). However, Alice is an alcoholic and she starts failing to maintain her life. Amy (Lauren Tom) is their babysitter. Emily (Ellen Burstyn) is the grandma. The perfect family life suffers as Alice struggles against her addiction.This may be a good portrayal of alcoholism and recovery. It isn't that great of a cinematic experience. It's too long and too slow. I think I don't like Andy Garcia in this father role. He has an explosive intensity but I would like an actor with a calmer personality. Meg Ryan is good at drunk acting. The movie doesn't really have anything new. In the end, the length probably wore me down.

OK it is hard for me to see such a masterpiece with an average rating because these kind of performances don't come along everyday. Personally I think this picture should have been nominated for best film of the year. All the performances in the film were top notch even the kids. When I watch this movie, I almost feel like I am in the theater watching a play. The interaction is so intense and skillful. Andy Garcia also should have gotten just as much praise as Meg Ryan both performances were outstanding. Sometimes I think he gets overlooked because he's so hot but yes this man's acting was amazing especially in the main argument scene. In any case, so sickening when a film like this isn't recognized to the full extent of it's greatness. Such a powerful and beautiful contribution to the art of film.

I have to disagree with the critics once again. This was nothing more than a below average movie. It might have deserved a rating a little higher than 2 stars, but the ending definitely ruined whatever good was seen in the movie beforehand. I found the script was too simplistic, and the acting nothing more than average (even though I am a huge Meg Ryan fan). Andy Garcia on the other hand was totally miss-cast for the role in my opinion (come on critics, before giving up all those stars, can't you imagine the acting in such a movie by let's say... Merryl Streep and William Hurt? Just think about it... The general public on IMDb had much more sense and gave it a lower average score than the critics).This is a film with no real emotions in my opinion. We never really get the feel of the relationship between Ryan and Garcia in the beginning. We never really get to sympathize or feel for the characters as the movie moves along. None of it ever seems real... and everything seems too obvious. In order to compensate for this, the movie resolves itself in the typically Hollywoodian feel-good manner. The film is based on the currently very much in vogue culture of permissiveness; everybody can do anything and it's OK: the wife can trash a car parked on the curb and that's OK, the kids can half demolish the house, that's OK, etc. How very typical of the '68 generation. Furthermore, building on this concept, the film shows how it is OK to be weak, positive to be a loser, but if you are strong, have values and principles, live according to a set of rules, you are out, almost as if you where sick, you have to be 'healed' so that you too can become a loser... How politically correct can you get? No, definitely not for me...

When everyone was wondering how a famous politician could not know his wife was a "closet alcoholic" we see a movie about the very subject. Was he an enabler, in denial and only when he saw his children in danger of his wife's behavior as a result of the drinking was he forced to face that she needed help, or was he truly ignorant of her problems? Was it more comfortable to let the status quo be and just try to go on? If this movie did not have Meg Ryan, playing against type, and Andy Garcia looking oh so handsome in uniform, and both giving wonderful performances, we would still have the very real story, that we have all seen with friends or family, and the wonderful child actors also giving outstanding performances. This film shows how facades can be maintained and all can look so good to the outsiders and those close enough to love the victims. This movie has it all. Beautiful people, living beautiful lives, and behind the scenes is an ugly addiction ready to rip apart all we see. Not wanting to ruin the film for those who have not seen it, I will say that this is one of those movies, that I watch no matter what section it is on when flicking the channels. it has it all, says it well and educates as well as entertains.