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32 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :- Wow, 8 October 2004 Author: MJJLWolf72 from Garnerland
Wow was my first reaction to seeing the film back in February 2003. I had bought it on a whim and watched it one night when I was bored. The rest is history. Terms remains one of my favorite films and I really can't say why. Reputation has made this out to be "the ultimate chick flick" upon which every other tear-jerker is judged. But it's definitely more of a character study than a weepy mushy movie. In fact, it's anything but mushy. Where it could of been over-sentimental, it was poignant. Where it could of been boring, it was insightful. And where it could of been corny, it was tongue-in-cheek.Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger give career performances as mother and daughter. Both characters are polar opposites and in real life the actresses despised each other, but on screen their chemistry sizzles. Jack Nicholson is his usual suave self and John Lithgow is perfect as the wimpy banker. Danny Devito also has a quirky cameo.James L. Brooks is definitely an "actor's director". To him, the performances are clearly more important than set pieces or flashy camera work. Each of the three main performances are brilliant (especially MacLaine's). It has been decades since a movie about illness has been made like this that is so achingly real. Two scenes to look for: Aurora walking across a seedy hotel (heat-breaking) and Emma telling her mother that she's pregnant (hilarious).Terms of Endearment is a triumph!
24 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :- Quirky characters who eventually grow on you, 30 November 2002 Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca
The shifty, funny/serious tone of "Terms Of Endearment" caught a lot of people off guard in 1983 and word-of-mouth about it being a seriously good tearjerker/comedy was strong (opening near Christmas probably didn't hurt it come Oscar time either!). But since then, TV sitcoms have been mining this kind of flippant, edgy, raw sense of dynamics ("Roseanne" comes to mind), and "Terms" doesn't seem as fresh. Watching it again the other night, I couldn't help feeling that some of the juice was missing, or that Shirley MacLaine's Aurora Greenway was actually more of an irritant than a sympathetic harridan. But on closer inspection, the lives of these characters are quite endearing, and the tender music on the soundtrack always underlines a poignant scene at just the right moment. Vivid Debra Winger is incredible as MacLaine's daughter, as are John Lithgow, Jeff Daniels, Jack Nicholson, and Danny DeVito (in a small but telling part). As for MacLaine, I think she makes a few missteps in her characterization, and I didn't like the scene where she leaves her own birthday party in a huff and finds herself at Nicholson's door--it feels put on--or her famous scene with Jack driving on the beach, which is highly improbable. However, her determined will and loving possessiveness/detachment towards her daughter makes her a complicated and colorful bundle of nerves. The picture is flawed, yet has scenes of worth and love, many memorable lines of dialogue, and shows a real skill for balancing different moods. *** from ****
33 out of 50 people found the following comment useful :- One of the best of all time, 24 February 2005 Author: aldonna4 from United States
What can I say about this film other than it is, in my opinion flawless. Every performance, every character, every scene... Debra Winger should have shared the Oscar with Shirley MacLaine. Few movies can make you laugh and cry OVER and OVER again, but this one does it for me. Even when I catch a scene on cable, I find myself drawn in emotionally and grabbing for my box of tissues. The mother-daughter relationship is so true-to-life and the chemistry between Debra and Shirley and Shirley and Jack is palpable. It is one of the greatest films ever made and should be required viewing for all mothers and daughters. This is an AMAZING and moving film!
23 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :- I laughed! I cried! I laughed! And then I starting sobbing!, 11 November 2002 Author: Bgb217 from NY
Exactly how in the world did I never see this movie before? I rented it on DVD the other night because I heard it was good, but I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. Incredible story, such powerful and passionate acting, it's just such a great film. I don't think I need to say anything about the acting in it, if you've seen Terms of Endearment you know that Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson bring their characters to a life rarely seen in movies. I just can't get over how great this movie was. The story is so good, it's so funny and at times among some of the saddest moments I've ever seen portrayed in the movies. I don't want to go any further for fear that I might spoil it for those who haven't seen this incredible story about life and love and laughter among family. Oh, and if you haven't seen one of the greatest movies ever made, go do so now. Wrapping up, if you can't tell I loved Terms of Enderament. I guess I had always stayed away from it because it seemed like THE chick flick, but it's not. It's such a great story, great acting, everything of a great movie. 10 out of 10.
15 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :- James Brooks can do the almost-impossible!, 12 January 2000 Author: troy-32 from Chicago, Illinois
I have to wonder why I like this movie so much, and so much more than other movies that maybe have similar plots. Some people have accused it of being a drawn-out TV-movie of the week tearjerker, Pauline Kael said its calculated humanity was infuriating... I don't think that this is true. James Brooks, who wrote and directed this great film, was also responsible for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and, for this alone, I would trust him completely. "Terms of Endearment" is a movie where the energy absolutely comes from the characters and not from ideas, or from ideas about how the characters are going to necessarily react. Brooks is as expressive about emotions as any other director might be, but he is generous in a way that a lot of others couldn't possibly be, and this is a very valuable quality for him. Maybe it's because no one scene is weighted any differently than another: Brooks is as eager about the "little" things as he is the big emotions; furthermore, he is respectful about the discretion in handling the highly emotional scenes. I remember equally vividly the scene at the Holiday Inn pool as I do the dinner party as I do the deathbed scene as I do the argument at the supermarket. In most "life-affirming" movie what gets remembered are the scenes where the characters tell each other how life has passed them by, or how beautiful life is, or else there is some fake-ironic ending to demonstrate one of these points. There is such a complete lack of this in "Terms of Endearment". The only observation we get is Aurora's, right after her daughter has died, and its means in the ways it makes me cry are unique to almost all other deathbed scenes: her acknowledgment that the idea of Emma's death being a relief was nothing compared to the reality of being so devastatingly unprepared for it. This is not an emotion that you can think out while sketching on paper... It's such a complexly unexpected thing for someone to say. And Brooks doesn't let us intrude on these two any longer than Emma's doctor does when he talks to her about her kids. Someone once said that life is what happens to you while you are planning for it. Well, this is an attitude that Brooks shares here. Because he is not a director driven by ideas, he can actually have characterization happen by itself, rather than imposing it, plot incidents alike. I think Brooks was attracted to Larry McMurtry's novel because it actually was life-affirming, even in Emma's death. I suppose I spent about 2-3 minutes crying at this movie - and every time, it's a watershed... Proportionately, that's pretty accurate. Out of 132 minutes, 2-3 spent crying might scale pretty closely to how much sadness we could encounter in our real lives. And the rest of the movie is every bit as vital. Of course, the acting contributes largely to the accomplishment. I can't visualize one of the main actors in a role without quickly thinking of "Terms...". Partly that's because the quality of the way the characters were drawn... And feeling each scene out on its own terms, the actors can feel boundless, and there's joy in that. Even when Debra Winger was dying, she gets some variety. There have been parts in this character that Jack Nicholson, whose charisma is both charming and funny, hasn't been able to shake. And Shirley MacLaine, whose scene by the nurses' station can effortlessly make you laugh and cry at the same time. This kind of scene sort of goes along with the idea that "I guess you had to be there"; how else could you feel such different things unless you felt like you got to know the characters at your own pace. After I saw "As Good As It Gets", which I thought was very good, I just think that James Brooks feels very abundantly and that he never uses his judgment against people, but rather for a special dispensation of his deep wisdom. The reputation of "Terms of Endearment" has gone downhill since it won all those Oscars in 1984, and that, combined with a desire to point out that it is no way typical, is why I think it deserves special mention.
12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :- The #1 Movie I Love to Hate, 25 March 2008 Author: samkan from poconos, pennesylvania
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
After the late 60's, early 70's, when movies began to circulate as news and talk show events, we the public began to believe we were to leave the theater having gotten (or not) the message. Such was for better or worse. Great movies like BONNIE & CLYDE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY and NETWORK were fussed, discussed, etc., and educated and entertained us with varying points of view (if no more through water cooler encounters). I may be naive but was it THEN that it became fun to discuss favorite movies, much like books had so been? SUPPORT: Siskel & Ebert's AT THE MOVIES began to appear on PBS in the late 70's.The blowback was a series of shallow - if mildly clever - movies that either the new industry and/or the media spun to we the public as "art". Hence TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, DRIVING MISS DAISY, MOONSTRUCK, and more recently Shakespeare IN LOVE, etc. I suggest that films of this caliber, not necessarily terrible, never won Oscars in the 40's, 50's or 60's.The characters in TOE are inarticulate, impatient and shallow people. TOE might have been good if such were the intended message. The sentiments of the movie are incredibly contrived; e.g., we are told zero of the substance of Flab's affairs though Emma's affair is, of course, justified, authentic, etc. I sum up McClain's Character in one word: shrill. I also dare anyone to create a more unashamed melodramatic ending. After watching this flick I walked out of the cinema in Topeka, KS in 1983 not giving a rat's ass about any of the folk or sentiments I'd just seen. Blame it on me being Roman Catholic but the only events, people, circumstances, etc., worthy of concern in TOE were Flap and Emma's children, to which NO attention was paid.I'm going to sound like a snob now. Here's the substance of the personal comments I heard and still hear when I inquire about TOE: "It was so good", "It was so sad.", "It was soooo good!", "It was sooo moving.", "It was just like real life.", "I can't believe she died.", "You know my sister just died." You get the picture.
16 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :- Overrated and manipulative, 9 May 2007 Author: lauraeileen894 from United States
I am a heterosexual, red-blooded woman who hates "Terms of Endearment". There, I said it, and I don't care who knows. "Terms of Endearment" is one of those insufferable movies aimed for women, even though it is clearly written by men who clearly don't know anything about real women. It's also a disjointed, plot less, excruciatingly dull story with some of the most poorly written characters to ever disgrace the screen.I didn't know which female protagonist I found more insufferable: Aurora (Shirley McClaine), an overbearing mother who clings to her daughter Emma (Debra Winger) like a leach but doesn't appear to actually love her. Aurora is one of those people who refuse to let go and let God, as evidenced where she happily wakes her sleeping baby daughter up because she's convinced that Emma has suffered "crib death". Emma is so sick of her mother's nagging ways, she marries the first loser who shows interest, much to her mother's chagrin ("You are not special enough to overcome a bad marriage," Aurora bluntly tells her).Then there's Emma herself, who I desperately wanted to root for, having an overprotective mom myself. Emma could have been written with a certain amount of dignity, passion, and endearing insecurities and intelligence that emerge in spite of Aurora's crappy parenting. Instead, Emma is an immature, petulant, flighty ninny who goes from having a backbone of steel one moment to being a complete pushover the next. She firmly calls her ne'er-do-well husband Flap (Jeff Daniels) on his infidelity, and yet stays with the cheating bastard for no clear reason whatsoever. Not to mention Winger plays Emma the way one would a mentally unstable 3-year-old and who sounds she doing the world's worst Joan Cusack impression. I got the feeling her children would be like the type of kids who have to raise and clean up after their alcoholic parents.I knew something was wrong when the only character I even remotely liked was Jack Nicholson's aging womanizer character. Considering that I don't even like Jack Nicholson, that's really something.Worst of all, "Terms of Endearment" is responsible for starting the trend of manipulative tearjerkers that involve families coming closer because of death ("Stepmom", "The Family Stone", "One True Thing"). Not only is it reprehensible to treat death so lightly, but it is unfair to the audience. It's as if filmmakers are punishing them for not being emotionally invested enough in the characters by creating latent feelings of guilt by killing them off. And it's always with Hollywood Cancer, the type of cancer where vomiting and chemotherapy somehow never come into play.I have nothing against chick flicks, I really don't. Just this one.
7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- Phenomenal, 26 January 1999 Author: Jules16 from Michigan
I only saw this movie for the first time a year ago, and I have to say it immediately became my favorite. The mother/daughter relationship portrayed here is one that some current movies (Hope Floats, One True Thing) have tried to emulate but haven't done nearly well enough. Shirley MacLaine is incredible and steals my heart as the compulsive, neurotic Aurora. Her performance, particularly at her daughter's deathbed, amazes me. Debra Winger is phenomenal as well as, for once in the movies, a believable mother who gets upset with her children but also loves them unconditionally. Jack Nicholson is, as always, nearly flawless. Very few movies have the ability to leave me in tears, but this one does every time I see it. As for the AFI's top 100, it's obvious that they fell into the common trap of glorifying old movies while ignoring some equally deserving newer ones. Without a doubt, this movie is a masterpiece.
9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- A little heavy, but with astonishing performances., 10 April 2001 Author: gridoon
A well-observed, well-made drama (with occasional comedic moments), that may not be exactly "high art" (it's neither profound nor original), but DOES feature some great acting and manages to pull you in. Debra Winger gives an extraordinary performance; she has a naturalness and expressiveness that you rarely see on the screen. When her character is happy, her whole face brightens up and her joy becomes infectious; when she's sad or confused or embarrassed, the emotions come across strongly, although she never goes over the top. Considering that she lost the Oscar to her co-star, Shirley MacLaine, who is reasonably good but far more one-note, I'd say we had a major Academy Award injustice there. Jack Nicholson is fun to watch and has some amusing lines, and most supporting roles, like those played by John Lithgow and Danny De Vito, are also first-rate and completely believable. So overall it's a good film, directed almost flawlessly, although in the final 20 minutes it needlessly wallows in melodrama. (***)
10 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :- MacLaine's best performance; ditto Winger & ensemble; Classic Nicholson - an excellent dramedy, 23 April 2003 Author: george.schmidt (george.schmidt@hbo.com) from fairview, nj
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) **** Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow, Danny De Vito. Wonderful serio-comedy about a strong-willed and independent woman (MacLaine in top form) and her only daughter a strong, yet indifferent and directionless free-spirit (Winger, nominated for Best Actress, excellent) with a penchant for a husband with a straying soul (Daniels also great). Winner of 5 Oscars including Best Actress (MacLaine), Supporting Actor (Nicholson in a gleefully unkempt performance and the film's stranglehold on having a good time), Screenplay (adapted from Larry McMurtry's novel), Director (James L. Brooks who also adapted the screenplay) and Best Picture. Best scenes: Nicholson's blind date with an uptight MacLaine and MacLaine's heartache in getting her daughter morphine in a hospital.
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