Doing Time on Maple Drive

This seemed great when it premiered in 1992, but it now seems a little bit contrived. The father is too easy to hate, and the grown sons are too easy to feel sorry for. Therefore, the only multidimensional characters are Lori Laughlin's and Bibi Besch's. But at the time, Ken Olin was pretty bold to tackle the issues in this movie. The nightmare bachelor party is probably the most cringe-worthy scene, of many, but that's probably intentional. Loughlin has one of the best lines in the movie: "Matt, I don't think this is the kind of thing you can talk yourself out of." Too bad she was only in half the movie. Jayne Brook (of "Gattaca") is great as the sister, and her character's storyline, though the least dramatic, should have given her more to do. And as for Besch, she pulls off the best acting as much with her facial expressions as with her lines. Always a radiant character actor, she was taken from us too soon (1996).