The movie attempting to draw stark comparisons between Sarah and Linda, and making Sarah seem extreme, fell flat for me. Darryl is a complete loser. LInda, just like Sarah said, just wanted a name to put on the birth certificate. Linda said that in the beginning. In fact, the only reason she even found out something was wrong was bc she couldn't let Darryl be a jerk away from the baby. Turns out she was never thinking about Luke, just herself. Did we even see a scene of just the three of them bonding in the way that Sarah/Jim/Morgan bonded? No. Literally in the beginning, my hope was that she would meet an actual nice guy, gain some self-worth, find her own place/start her own salon, etc, and Luke may have a stepdad who wanted him. She was dependent on EVERYONE in her orbit in the film and ironically, her independence came very clearly with the settlement from the hospital.
Characters like Linda irk me. Like her lack of "privilege" is supposed to make us instantly feel for her, but she is so irresponsible. But wait, she does have privilege, bc her parents and her sister filled the gap and made every way for her to do nothing but raise Luke. Gave her a home, food, daycare, and a job. Gave her stability. I loved that her dad loved little Luke so much after being utterly disappointed in his daughter. Like every scene with Darryl, you can tell she's just lonely. The whole court battle began bc Darryl decided Luke was "defective" and they wanted a "healthy" Morgan back. The way she lets him steamroll her makes me sick. He's a liar, manipulator and she just takes it in stride...because she's lonely.
This movie in some ways is the best case scenario for this kind of movie. Very saccharine, not too deep, and thankfully no one dies (like a Lifetime version of this). And who knows, switching the boys at 1 year old may have been tough, but at the same time, Sarah and Jim dealing with these two forever would be a nightmare. For me, it's not even that the quality of life is technically better and more stable for Morgan. It's that Linda is so irresponsible that I'd hate to see Luke as an older kid dealing with this dysfunction, with a father who doesn't even know his pediatrician, yet has so much to say about a kid that isn't his. It's not hard to imagine a drunk Darryl pitting the boys against each other. He had ZERO good intentions or qualities. And it's not to say Jim and Sarah are perfect. They are NOT, but it's manipulation to say their structure, order, and stability makes them bad people or deserving of losing their child.
I also hate in movies like this how the "less fortunate" one never gets told off the way she/he should be. She's so passive and I'm just like why? At what point did she decide she wanted both boys? One of who isn't even related to her? That part makes zero sense. Why would a judge give a kid not related to a pair of strangers? Linda should have focused on getting the hospital to make things right instead of letting her loneliness cause undue stress and disruption to two very young kids. Utterly stupid and I honestly don't feel sorry for her. She brought drama to her parents and her sister's lives. When he's around, she goes through scenes of not saying anything or having this pained look on her face. It's annoying as crap to be honest.
I guess it's your POV who the bigger star is in this, Gilbert or Arquette. For me, it's Gilbert being a fan of LHOtP and to me, RA is not really the face of the Arquettes. But we see less of Linda with Luke than we do Sarah with Morgan. What is this movie's point? Honestly, this is so old it doesn't matter. I'm ultimately Team Sarah bc at least she's consistent and stands up for herself. Honestly wouldn't trust Linda as far as I could throw her and as much of a hassle it would be, I would absolutely get things in writing.
