Kramer vs. Kramer (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
Set in Manhattan's Upper East Side, 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (directed by Robert Benton) begins with advertising whiz Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) coming home from a great day at the office to find his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) leaving him. He hasn't been the greatest husband of late, but her problems seem to be mostly internal. Smart & talented, she feels that she's been wasting her young life as a house mom for 6 yrs., caring for their son Billy (Justin Henry) & letting her skills go to waste. She needs to "find herself". Ted goes through the expected stages of anger, denial, grief, & then sad acceptance.
He loses his job. He doesn't know how to properly care for his son, but through trial & error, Billy quickly teaches him {haha}. Billy remains heartbroken that his mom abandoned them. But more importantly, he is won-over by his dad. That said, though Ted proves that he can deftly juggle all of his duties, the courts may still award a rejuvenated Joanna custody because, well, she's the ... mom. Drama ensues as the film heads towards a fairly riveting courtroom battle & denouement.
Robert Benton sure knows how to tell/sell this story. The movie covers almost 2 yrs. of time, yet runs for only an hour & 45 minutes. The pacing/editing is just so good: one scene halfway through of Ted & Billy's morning routine - waking up, breakfast, reading the paper/comic book - shows us everything we need to know about the comfortable relationship that the 2 of them have established, particularly in direct contrast to an earlier scene where a morning routine went disastrously.
'Kramer vs. Kramer' offers a never-before-seen look (in film) at child custody battles, and how gender factors into the decisions. The whole process stinks, & everybody winds up getting hurt. The film also shows some of the issues/challenges of single parenthood, a situation that millions of people worldwide face every day. And 'Kramer vs. Kramer' dares to ask very difficult questions. 1) Are women who run from their husband/children justified in doing so if their lives are so stifled? 2) "What law says that a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex?" Ted Kramer asks in the movie. 3) Who is to say that a father can't be the superior choice in parenting a young child? 3) Must the mother always have the re-determined right? I love how the film challenges our preconceptions about family.
Hoffman - who usually plays offbeat characters - excels here at being a very relatable everyman; a professional whose life is completely altered by this situation. His performance conveys Ted's rough-edged tenderness & his growth as a parent. My heart broke for him. And Streep, who is mostly featured in the very beginning of the film and then returns near the end for their big custody hearing, nails the character; giving us a full range of feelings. It's a hard character to tackle. i.e., loves her son, but deserts him & her marriage; struggles internally, wants to break-free to be an independent-thinking woman; but then ... bursts back into the picture to take her son back. She's modern, commendable (not letting circumstance stop her from becoming the best she can be), but she's also a certifiable villain.
He loses his job. He doesn't know how to properly care for his son, but through trial & error, Billy quickly teaches him {haha}. Billy remains heartbroken that his mom abandoned them. But more importantly, he is won-over by his dad. That said, though Ted proves that he can deftly juggle all of his duties, the courts may still award a rejuvenated Joanna custody because, well, she's the ... mom. Drama ensues as the film heads towards a fairly riveting courtroom battle & denouement.
Robert Benton sure knows how to tell/sell this story. The movie covers almost 2 yrs. of time, yet runs for only an hour & 45 minutes. The pacing/editing is just so good: one scene halfway through of Ted & Billy's morning routine - waking up, breakfast, reading the paper/comic book - shows us everything we need to know about the comfortable relationship that the 2 of them have established, particularly in direct contrast to an earlier scene where a morning routine went disastrously.
'Kramer vs. Kramer' offers a never-before-seen look (in film) at child custody battles, and how gender factors into the decisions. The whole process stinks, & everybody winds up getting hurt. The film also shows some of the issues/challenges of single parenthood, a situation that millions of people worldwide face every day. And 'Kramer vs. Kramer' dares to ask very difficult questions. 1) Are women who run from their husband/children justified in doing so if their lives are so stifled? 2) "What law says that a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex?" Ted Kramer asks in the movie. 3) Who is to say that a father can't be the superior choice in parenting a young child? 3) Must the mother always have the re-determined right? I love how the film challenges our preconceptions about family.
Hoffman - who usually plays offbeat characters - excels here at being a very relatable everyman; a professional whose life is completely altered by this situation. His performance conveys Ted's rough-edged tenderness & his growth as a parent. My heart broke for him. And Streep, who is mostly featured in the very beginning of the film and then returns near the end for their big custody hearing, nails the character; giving us a full range of feelings. It's a hard character to tackle. i.e., loves her son, but deserts him & her marriage; struggles internally, wants to break-free to be an independent-thinking woman; but then ... bursts back into the picture to take her son back. She's modern, commendable (not letting circumstance stop her from becoming the best she can be), but she's also a certifiable villain.