Staying Together is a heartwarming and earnest dramedy, sometimes packing clichés, and other times, resembling Stand By Me, focusing on three teenage boys who are left without a plan for their future when their father decides that he is going to sell his restaurant since he "doesn't want to die selling chickens." When his boys find out, they are outraged that they were left out of the decision-making process, and feel they were betrayed by their own provider. One of them even walks out to live by his own rules.
The boys are hot-headed Brian (Quill), simple and love-struck Kit (Mulroney), and prankster Duncan (Astin), and their father is Jake (Haynie). After the decision to sell the restaurant is final, the boys struggle to find a specific path to take. They planned to work at the restaurant for years to come, and possibly, forever. Now, with those plans shattered, they must go their separate ways, making life decisions for themselves that were previously made by mom and dad.
I'm aware at how cliché this story sounds, but I mentioned in my review of Nicolas Cage's It Could Happen to You, I don't always immediately ride on a film for being cliché. If a film has a cliché premise, but it also occupies good intentions, sophisticated pacing, likable characters, and a charming attitude and direction than it will most likely merit a positive score. There is nothing wrong with predictability, as long as the film is passable in other areas. Staying Together is, and it is motivated by worthy, capable performances by actors who are very underrated.
Sean Astin's start was in goofy comedies and adventure flicks such as Encino Man and The Goonies before eventually playing Samwise in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, while Dermont Mulroney has acted in over seventy films, yet is still patiently waiting for his breakout role. These are all great actors and they finally have their time to shine.
Lee Grant's film is a likable one, but for the sake of randomness and the fact that I have ran out of things to say about the film since there is no need for hardcore, deep analysis, I noticed one glaring continuity error. Quite possibly the biggest I've seen in a while. During the scene where the parents come home to find their kitchen in smithereens, there is a shot of the parents in the doorway of the kitchen which is interrupted by a shot of two boys in the kitchen. When it cuts back to the parents, the dad is now missing and the lighting has drastically become darker. When it cuts back to the kids it is bright and vibrant outside, showing grand effect on the lighting in the room itself. What happened? Did they forget to film something and had to come back later? It doesn't bog down the film one bit, but sometimes when a film gives you something unexpected, and when you just don't have much else to say, it comes in handy. Staying Together is a healthy exercise in the coming of age formula, and a worthy mention for forgotten eighties dramas that are sadly never spoken about in present day.
Starring: Tim Quill, Dermont Mulroney, Sean Astin, Stockard Channing, Jim Haynie, and Melinda Dillon. Directed by: Lee Grant.
