suzanneoxford

I have read the book, Flowers in the Attic. This is a Gothic type mystery where children were locked up in the attic not to be seen. V.C. Andrews was able to convey a dark and sinister atmosphere with Olivia Foxworth being a truly evil grandmother, showing them absolute contempt. Heather Graham portrays their mother, who becomes bored with her life and pursues a man who is supposedly their grandfather's attorney. She stays gone for long periods of time and brings back gifts which are supposed to compensate for her absence. Heather Graham is not right for this part. She comes across as rather vacant and bored, but does not project a sense of evil, which is well demonstrated in the novel. Ellen Burnstyn is an excellent actress and there is no doubt that she can barely tolerate her newly acquired grandchildren. She gives a fantastic performance.

There are gaps in this movie and the viewer is left wondering exactly why the daughter of Foxworth was alienated from her family. Heather does not even come across as a mother, but more like a best friend to her children. But maybe that is the intended effect. She obviously is not interested or does not care about their well-being.

Also in the book VC Andrews was able to convey a sense of anxiety and claustrophobia as the children feel suffocated from living in such close quarters with no freedom. You can feel their sense of doom and emotional deprivation, as they slowly realize that they are in a sort of prison and may never get out. The director, Chow does not give the viewer this feeling of doom. If there is a sense of frustration and anxiety with their surroundings, it is mild discontent compared to what the book shows. Without this psychological drama, it greatly diminishes the sense of doom, which Gothic novels are big on portraying.

I would not watch this movie again. I had a hard time following it and in a way kind of boring.

The content of this movie proved to be disgusting. So once again Hollywood is hard at work trying to tarnish and destroy a famous celebrity from days gone by. They seem to feel no sense of consciousness in displaying scene after scene of lurid and promiscuous details of Liberace's personal life. Yes he was a homosexual and probably did engage in dangerous sexual behavior, for which he paid the ultimate price. Seriously, does the general public need to know about his vanity and preoccupation with looking young? Also please leave out the bedroom love-making scenes between Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Maybe I am in the minority, but watching men kissing each other, etc was revolting and actually turned my stomach. It saddens me that many great actors have chosen to waste their talent on this film. Dan Akroyd and Rob Lowe what were you thinking to pick this movie? I am not too surprised in Michael Douglas since he goes for shocking, violent films, such as Basic Instinct. I am very shocked to see Matt Damon playing this role. He was definitely the wrong choice being 40, since Scott was only 17 when their relationship started.

Probably the younger audience (under 40) does not remember Liberace anyway. Still whatever good name he once had, has been totally shattered. I am of the older generation, who are still offended by this kind of morally degenerate portrayal of a star. I have read other reviews and some young viewers seem to accept this as status quo. So where do we draw the line on what is acceptable and what is not? Today the R-rated movies show every form of love-making and profanity. Nudity is generally accepted. Subjects which were taboo only 20 years ago are now widely included, such as homosexual love-making on the set. Frontal nudity was once excluded, but now we see it all the time. It really scares me to think what will come next. Hopefully, I will not be here anymore to find out.

This is probably the worst review I have ever written. I try hard to find some redeeming light or feature which will help me be fair, but this time there is none to be found.

For the most part I enjoyed this movie. Neil Simon has created many great plays leading to movies such as Brighton Beach, The Odd Couple, Seems Like Old Times and many, many more. Marsha Mason is definitely talented and able to carry off this somewhat difficult role. I also have loved James Caan in other movies such as Godfather, Misery, Kiss Me Goodbye, Gardens of Stone to name only a few. However, his performance as George Schneider seems lacking in content. His wittiness and humor are great and he shines when doing comedy, but with the drama -- such as when conflicted with a new relationship and ultimately, he jumps into marriage not really knowing his new bride. Also Joseph Bologna and Valerie Harper are excellent as the co-stars who ended up pursuing an extramarital affair. I believe it is really Marsha Mason's superb acting that carries most of this film. She was also great in The Goodbye Girl. The only other problem with the dialog is some of Neil Simon's one-liners for Marsha Mason seem trite and overly worn-out. Simon seems to use the same lines over and over again for other scripts he has written. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.