Wildflower (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews

Simple, predictable, teary romance

[purryguy · 8/10 · 25 July 2003]

Nice little heart warming movie which follows the conflict which arises when a partially deaf abused girl is helped by a brother and sister team to escape the evil grasp of her deranged violent step father. The brother and the deaf girl gradually fall for each other and well you know how it goes, love and hugs all around after a bit of an emotional roller-coaster.

Get the hankies ready if you are in an emotional mood. If you are of a cynical cold hearted disposition then this won't be to your liking.

Ignorance knows no bounds

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 11 July 2002]

A young girl is locked away in a feed outhouse way out in the country because her redneck father thinks she is off her rocker. When 2 neighbor kids befriend her she begins to come out of her shell and slowly become functional after years as a recluse. Very good picture.

A Sweet Coming-Of-Age Story

[antcraw · 8/10 · 30 December 2023]

Wildflower is a beautiful gem of a TV movie with an outstanding performance by Patricia Arquette as partially deaf young woman who suffers from epileptic seizures and is held captive in a shed by her abusive stepfather.

Reese Witherspoon is playing Ellie, one of her earliest roles, who discovers Alice and starts to befriend her. Both women's excellent performance is greatly supported by Beau Bridge playing Ellie's and Sammy's dad.

The story line, while predictable, is well thought out, but unfortunately the writing is rather poorly executed, resulting in some uneven storytelling and what feels like an unfinished ending. Another thing that threw us off was that odd rose bush. If it were a real rose bush, this is not how one plucks a wild rose.

All in all a worthwhile and enjoyable film with some great performances.

Powerful and Touching

[AlCulp · 24 December 2001]

Powerful movie for the entire family. Patricia Arquette is very believable as an abused and love starved child. Beau Bridges performance and transition is believable and touching. We have worn out two VHS copies. I only wish this made for TV movie was available in DVD format.

Nice touching story

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 January 2014]

Ellie Perkins (Reese Witherspoon) ventures onto the scary Guthrie property and discovers Alice Guthrie (Patricia Arquette) locked up living in the shed. Alice is deaf and her father is a violent drunk who beats her mother. Ellie and her brother Sammy befriends the isolated Alice hiding their friendship from their overbearing father Jack Perkins (Beau Bridges).

There are two understandable problems in this otherwise very touching movie with great actors. The first problem is the novice directing from Diane Keaton. This is a washed out looking uninspired visually movie. It's not unexpected, but it's still disappointing nonetheless. The second problem is the performance or overacting from Patricia Arquette. She reminds me of Nell (Jodie Foster). It's a hard balance to strike. It's always said that drunk acting is the hardest. This is probably a close second. It'd be better if she was more reserved. All the flailing just seems too much. Also she's got a great haircut for somebody living in a shed.

The good points are the acting. Standout from this is Reese Witherspoon. Beau Bridges and William McNamara are both great. It's a touching story. It's nice to see Alice grow as a character instead of just constantly be a victim. With more skills behind the camera, this could have been a much better film.

Patricia Arquette is phenomenal!!!

[ducky42378 · 10/10 · 28 March 2006]

This has got to be the best movie, TV or otherwise, that I have ever seen. It does all the right things, touches your heart and takes you right into the lives of the characters. Patricia Arquette is one of the best actresses of all time. She rarely gets credit for her work, she deserves so much more. All of the characters are wonderfully played and the chemistry is incredible. What a great movie for everyone to watch. I think that all people can benefit greatly from watching this movie. It delves into a part of human suffering that more often than not isn't mentioned or is just glanced over. Although I am not deaf, I have had experiences with deaf people and they are some the most animated and expressive people I've ever met. Patrica Arquette plays her character so well, that it's hard to realized that she's not really deaf. Actors like her are few and far between.

One of my favorites of All Time

[Bosig · 10/10 · 14 June 2005]

Don't forget about this film.. Listen to your inner heart and you will experience an extraordinary movie. Patricia Arquette is wonderful as the lovely outsider girl. As soon as she gets familiar with the other kids.. she shows her natural talent for social behaviour. A love movie for the higher sensitive people. But don't start crying as I do, when she gets the hearing aid and for the first time were able to hear the birds singing in the woods. Good script very good camera (thats rare) plausible and very good actors and a great story. All in all an extraordinary film and one of P. Arquettes greatest!! Why can't we get more of those movies..

forget it!

[princy · 4/10 · 20 August 2000]

I didn't even bother to finish watching this one. The movie unfortunately looks as though it were directed by a novice, complete with bad acting and an inconsistent storyline. One glowing fault with this movie is that, even though Reese Witherspoon and her brother are supposed to be preparing poor old Patricia Arquette to interact with the rest of society, they talk to her as if they were speaking to a child (shouldn't they have been speaking to her as an equal?).

Amazing

[Video_Kid91 · 10/10 · 3 September 2009]

I think Wildflower is an amazing film. It touched my heart with the powerful acting, it really bought out all my emotions. It is a simple movie but it is really powerful. Patricia Arquette does a superb job playing Alice. I couldn't get over at how well she managed to portray a deaf person. Most actors that I have seen trying to portray a deaf person, tend to go over the top so the performance isn't believable. Patricia's actions, speech and her eyes show real emotion. This is a really good family movie and I would recommend this to anyone. I gave Wildflower 10 out of 10 because I believe that it ticked all the right boxes, parts were funny, sad, upsetting, but overall, it was really enjoyable!

Wow is this bad

[katiecarsi · 1/10 · 15 July 2023]

Looked at the cast and director and thought, how did I miss this? Apparently a higher power was looking out for me. But.... I found it anyway.

I've been watching it for an hour and I'm ready to stab my eyes out...

It's completely absurd, terrible acting, silly story with inconsistencies and just juvenile. Everything about it is fake from the sets, to the props.

Has a high school play feel. Actually, I've seen better high school plays than this movie.

It's a movie made for the Hallmark Movie fans which should all be outlawed for dumbing down the human race.

This movie is a train wreck.....

A sensitive treatment of suffering.

[plbwild · 9/10 · 19 November 2005]

Patricia Arquette's best film in my humble opinion. She has obviously, thoroughly researched the conditions suffered by her character and is very convincing. Having one of the conditions myself, I was hesitant about watching this film at first. However, in spite of the Hollywood style happy ending where the bad guy (brilliantly played by Norman Maxwell) got his comeuppance, I still found it to be an interesting and sensitive handling of a subject many people prefer to ignore and hope it'll go away. Beau Bridges' character did appear to come around rather sharply. A change for the better, thank goodness but I wonder if he might have been more reluctant. Having said that, a lot of ground needed to be covered in the hour and a half and it would be churlish of me to downgrade an otherwise wonderful film.

Really liked it, touching, an upper

[susandavis309 · 16 July 2003]

A touching movie, clean language. I really liked it. It's dramatic, sensitive, thought-provoking, and has a good ending--an upper. The actress who plays Alice Guthrie is beautiful and did and exceptional job of portraying the character.

Beautiful film, that will change your life.

[Maggiethecat3211 · 10/10 · 16 July 2015]

I stumbled upon this film on accident, and did not know what to expect but am so glad I sat through it! It really is a beautiful film: on point directing by Keaton and acting from the beautiful Patricia Arquette and darling young Reese Witherspoon.

I have been a fan of Patricia Arquettes for quite sometime, so may be biased, however I found her performance quite possibly one of her best in her career- alongside True Romance, Beyond Rangoon and Boyhood. If one had not known of her before, it could easily be believed she was actually deaf. Her ability and shear brilliance with portraying this character leaves me in awe. Why no one ever remembers this performance when they question this woman's acting ability is beyond me.

Anyway, the film follows two siblings who seek to help a young girl whose deaf fit into society. The themes of friendship, family, loyalty and love make for a heartbreaking yet memorable film. A lot can be learned from this film, and I think children should see it as its a great lesson in being kind, opening your heart and the evilness that comes with bulling.

I give this a 10/10 because of the acting, directing, and brilliant story. A must see. A film truly lost in time.

heartwarming

[paulinelongford · 10/10 · 13 November 2018]

Grab a box of tissues for this one ... all done a very fine job on this one had me forgetting the characters were acting !!!

beautiful movie

[rachelb-2 · 12 May 1999]

I would watch this movie everyday if i could! It is a totally wonderful story! William McNamara, Reese Witherspoon and Patricia Arquette did an excellent job! The love that develops between Sammy and Alice is so beautiful! I only wish that there would be a sequel something to add to this already wonderful movie!

sensitive

[renaldo and clara · 21 August 2000]

This is the first movie I'd ever seen Reese Witherspoon in. She convincingly played a cute and curious little girl, which compelled me to see her future projects.

I was only about 11 or 12 when I saw this film on TV. I watched it several times, though, because my mom taped it. I didn't quite understand WHY I liked the movie so much, except that the actors all have great chemistry. Though I must've felt it then, I was too young to realize the deeply sensual and subtle eroticism the plot rested on. It is also nonetheless a very heartfelt and coming-of-age film.

The Waltons meet Helen Keller ...

[j.pasteur · 6 May 2003]

Was genuinely moved by the content of this tale of extremes of human nature. The barbarity of keeping a young girl in a shed versus the humanitarian sincerity was handled well by actress-director Diane Keaton. Patricia Arquette in particular must have found it difficult to play her role as the disadvantaged AND hearing-impaired Alice, uttering her lines as a deaf woman... with all the embarrassment that must go with it.

Perhaps I have been alone too long. Or perhaps - over-educated and right after yet another vicious superpower vs. small nation war, with the subsequent revelations of bestial cruelty - I am still surprised by humankind's inhumanity to humankind.

But there are pinpricks of light out there, somewhere. And with that thought, Humankind still has, at the very least, some hope...

Nice and Sensitive

[Jonathan-18 · 15 February 1999]

This could easily have been a pilot for a drama series, or the basis for a mini-series. I liked the family (with the dashing Reese Witherspoon really at the head of it). Beau's change in the movie is a little drastic, but all in all it's a touching sensitive, wonderfully directed television movie (by the always great actress Diane Keaton). These stories are what tv movies are made for. Lastly- it may be a little too long.