This is a film about a mother's struggle with her youngest son's exacerbating muscular dystrophy.
Who do they movies like these? For ailing parents who are faced with similar circumstances? Is it for empathetic purposes, to get the rest of us to realize the difficulties of these situations (as though we already didn't know)? Perhaps, both. I don't really know. But, I do know that these movies are a dime a dozen, and particularly popularly for mid-80s to early-90s made for TV fare. This low budget production was one of the more cornier ones that I had seen.
Liza Minelli does carry the entire film, sadly, because 1) the overall movie, although about a touching topic (I suppose) is really quite boring and too long for the little substance we're actually given; and 2) because she is really the only one, besides Swoozie Kurtz who has a minor supporting role, who can act worth a damned. Check out the opening scene where the mother and father are in the doctor's office discussing the son's condition. She sounds like she's reading from a teleprompter and can't see the text so well. It's no surprise that she'd win a Golden Globe for the performance either. She's always had screen appeal as the witty, independent, and charismatic characters she often portrays.
Corey Haim fans, may nonetheless, appreciate its nostalgic, since pre-stardom Haim is here aplenty. Otherwise, I'd say you could probably find something better scanning Lifetime TV reruns.
