As far as serious issues go they don't come much more serious than a suicide in the family . Teenager Jimmy Stapp takes his father's gun and blows his brains out so you've got the bones of what could have been a very heart wrenching story . It's a TVM of course but that's not enough to condemn it - What condemns it is the way everything plays out on screen
First of all is the script . It's difficult to take the Stapp family seriously when the mother Maggie Stapp knocks on her son's Jimmy door to tell him he has clean socks in the laundry basket . Is America a five star hotel or something where truculent teenagers are waited on hand and foot ? This apple pie portrayal of suburban America is something that destroys the credibility of the story , it's so over powering it soon becomes ridiculous . I guess that the script is pointing out you don't need violent friction at home in order for a teenager to top them self but this point becomes somewhat muddled as we never discover the reason's for Jimmy's death . There's also a scene where Maggie is in church which is intercut with Jimmy sticking a gun to his head , I can't help thinking that this to emphasize that Maggie and her family are respected popular members of the community then when the funeral takes place it's only attended by the Stapp family . One can't help think that because Christians are against suicide the church going community have self righteously boycotted the funeral , but this potentially dramatic point isn't really brought up again and perhaps budget rather than subtext stopped more people attending the funeral
I'm afraid I have to criticise some very poor performances here . Meredith Baxter seems to have appeared in nothing but TVMs over a long career so I guess she's unable to play anything over than a sugary sweet mom in an over sentimental drama . Bruce Davison has no such excuse since he's appeared in hard hitting cinema releases like ULZANA'S RAID and still appears in blockbusters like THE X-MEN movies , he's capable of giving a convincing performance not something I can say he gives here . I couldn't help noticing that Peter Facinelli looks exactly like Eric Bana but that's were the similarities end since Bana will be a global superstar . The problem with the cast is that they're unable to show gut wrenching grief that will have the audience weeping along with them . Jimmy lies in a lonely woods and is supposed to be crying I think but watching him on screen I though he was having an asthma attack ( Perhaps the script should have ignored scenes of his depression with the audience seeing the story through the parents eyes ) and we have several occasions where Mr and Mrs Stapp break down , though the acting is so bad I thought their characters were sneezing !
I could have written a very cynical review of this TVM along with much sarcasm and bad taste , and to be honest this made for television movie deserved it . Pyx summed up with what's wrong with this movie and I got fed up long ago with American TV networks ruining subjects of discussion ( Anyone seen THE DAY AFTER ) by making potentially intelligent and hard hitting TVMs that end up drowning their audience in sentimentality
First of all is the script . It's difficult to take the Stapp family seriously when the mother Maggie Stapp knocks on her son's Jimmy door to tell him he has clean socks in the laundry basket . Is America a five star hotel or something where truculent teenagers are waited on hand and foot ? This apple pie portrayal of suburban America is something that destroys the credibility of the story , it's so over powering it soon becomes ridiculous . I guess that the script is pointing out you don't need violent friction at home in order for a teenager to top them self but this point becomes somewhat muddled as we never discover the reason's for Jimmy's death . There's also a scene where Maggie is in church which is intercut with Jimmy sticking a gun to his head , I can't help thinking that this to emphasize that Maggie and her family are respected popular members of the community then when the funeral takes place it's only attended by the Stapp family . One can't help think that because Christians are against suicide the church going community have self righteously boycotted the funeral , but this potentially dramatic point isn't really brought up again and perhaps budget rather than subtext stopped more people attending the funeral
I'm afraid I have to criticise some very poor performances here . Meredith Baxter seems to have appeared in nothing but TVMs over a long career so I guess she's unable to play anything over than a sugary sweet mom in an over sentimental drama . Bruce Davison has no such excuse since he's appeared in hard hitting cinema releases like ULZANA'S RAID and still appears in blockbusters like THE X-MEN movies , he's capable of giving a convincing performance not something I can say he gives here . I couldn't help noticing that Peter Facinelli looks exactly like Eric Bana but that's were the similarities end since Bana will be a global superstar . The problem with the cast is that they're unable to show gut wrenching grief that will have the audience weeping along with them . Jimmy lies in a lonely woods and is supposed to be crying I think but watching him on screen I though he was having an asthma attack ( Perhaps the script should have ignored scenes of his depression with the audience seeing the story through the parents eyes ) and we have several occasions where Mr and Mrs Stapp break down , though the acting is so bad I thought their characters were sneezing !
I could have written a very cynical review of this TVM along with much sarcasm and bad taste , and to be honest this made for television movie deserved it . Pyx summed up with what's wrong with this movie and I got fed up long ago with American TV networks ruining subjects of discussion ( Anyone seen THE DAY AFTER ) by making potentially intelligent and hard hitting TVMs that end up drowning their audience in sentimentality