I saw the ShoWest reel for THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN with Pfeiffer and Treat Williams. At the time I remember thinking.... Maaaaaaaan, this seems like one hell of a good movie. Not in the, "ewwww cooool" way, but in that "Man, I still can't get that movie out of my head" way. It's a film about a kidnapping and the guilt, loss and aftershocks. At the surface the film looked to be one of those hanky flicks that go to cause red eyes. And here we have, Jack, The Boy Wonder, with his review of an early test screening of the film. I believe the film is meant to open this fall, I'm not sure, but overall he liked the film. Do take note, THERE ARE MASSIVE SPOILERS in the below review. He felt the Whoopi Goldberg character was a bit weak. And he thought it moved a bit slow in places, but over all he thinks the film will benefit from some tightening. Kudos in the film apparently go out to Treat Williams. If you want to leave now, go, but if spoilers don't bother ya, continue...
THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN
What would you do if your three year old son was kidnapped? What would you do if you didn't get him back? What would you do if you did get him back, but nine years later when he doesn't know who you are anymore? Would you keep him, or let him go?
There once was an old saying, that said something like, "If you love something, you'll free it; and if it's meant to be, it'll come back." And, that is what kind of happens in The Deep End of the Ocean, the new Michelle Pfeiffer-Treat Williams drama.
Beth Cappadora (Pfeiffer) takes her two older children, Vincent and Ben, to her 15th High School Reunion. She seems happy. She's married, she's the proud mother of three young children, and her whole life is in front of her. But, not for long. At the reunion, she leaves her two sons for one second. "Watch after your brother," she says to Vincent. "I'll be right back."
In that one second of her absence, Ben is gone, and not to be seen ever again (not that Ben remind you). This torments the family, but most visibly Beth. She moans, she cries, she literally walks around like a zombie. She blames herself. After all, if she never left Ben, he would still be with her, hugging her and wanting pizza. But, Beth isn't the only one in the family grieving. The others do, but in a more subtle way. Pat (Treat Williams), Beth's husband, tries to be the caretaker, nurturing his lamenting wife and desperately trying to be the conductor of a blissful family. This is his way to deal with the pain. His mother's method is to not think of Ben as gone. The first Christmas after the kidnapping, she buys presents for Ben, thinking she could give them to him when he returns. This, of course, starts a feud among the family.
Six years later, Beth, Pat, and their two children move to Chicago to start a new life. Pat owns a new restaurant, Beth takes up a career as a photographer, and Vincent, well, he goes to school. And, they do a pretty good job pretending to adapt well. That is, until Ben comes back into their lives three years later. Only now, he's not Ben, he's Sam.
The ironic thing is, that he's lived two blocks down from their new home for all of these years. But, here's the twist: the melancholy woman who kidnapped him, killed herself five years earlier. Before that, though, she married a man who was oblivious to the fact that Sam (Ben) was not hers. This man adopted Sam. He loves him like a son and Sam loves him as a father. The reality is, however, that Sam has to go back with Beth and Pat.
After months of awkwardness among Ben/Sam and his new/old family, Beth realizes it's just not working out. She knows how much Sam misses the man who raised him. So, like James Whitmore did for his pet bird in The Shawshank Redemption, she liberates him, and lets him go back to live with the man who he thinks of as "Dad."
But before too long, Sam wants to come back. Why? Well, not for his younger sister, not for Beth, not for Pat, but, for Vincent. After all, he is his brother and he senses that. Vincent, you see, has always blamed himself for the abduction of Ben. He was the one instructed to look after him and he blew it, he thinks. "I told you to 'get lost," he confesses to Sam. "I let go."
The Deep End of the Ocean is a movie about people. It is not a kidnapping caper, as you might suspect. Although it does move slow in several parts, it is a fairly entertaining film that works and doesn't work on many levels. Whoopi Goldberg's 'jerkish' lesbian detective character added nothing. Her undeniable talent was wasted as usual.
Treat Williams, one of the most underrated actors of his generation, gives a very touching performance as a man who, unlike Pfeiffer, keeps most of his feelings internal, trying to smile when he can and be noble even in such difficult times. In the beginning, he is the strong character, but this changes as the film progresses.
This is Williams' best performance since Sidney Lumet's 1982 police drama Prince of the City, which he was unjustly denied an Oscar nomination for. He should earn a decent amount of critical kudos for this one, though.
The other noteworthy actor among the cast is Jonathan Jackson (General Hospital), who plays the sixteen year old Vincent. His scenes with Sam were definitely the best in the film. This kid shined in a young actor's dream role.
I imagine the film will be considerably better as the post-production stage progresses. This was a very rough cut, Harry, and that was transparent.
Until next time,
"Jack, the Boy Wonder"
