This looked like the type of film I would enjoy, but I didn't. Frankly, it looks like it's trying too hard to exude quirky charm, and in no moment is this more evident than when we find Hurt's relatives alphabetizing their kitchen cupboards--a quirky cliché if there ever was one. (I distinctly remember this being touted on the video box as an example of how "funny" the film allegedly is.) Hurt's character comes off as a smug bore rather than a grieving parent who's shut down. I can understand why he chose to play Macon in such a manner, but it left me waiting for a part in the clouds that would never come. For a better take on this state of mind, see Juliette Binoche in Blue.
The fact that Geena Davis managed to breathe life into this at all is reason enough for her to have won the Academy Award, but Hurt's character doesn't deserve her. Her allergic-to-everything son is the only other interesting character in the film. I haven't read Anne Tyler's book, but it may have been a better idea to take these characters out of it and build a story for them alone.
For a much better tragicomic look at grief, may I suggest the wonderfully bittersweet 1990 film about grief, Men Don't Leave. In it, Jessica Lange and Arliss Howard exhibit more chemistry in their first meeting than Hurt and Davis do in this whole film.
The fact that Geena Davis managed to breathe life into this at all is reason enough for her to have won the Academy Award, but Hurt's character doesn't deserve her. Her allergic-to-everything son is the only other interesting character in the film. I haven't read Anne Tyler's book, but it may have been a better idea to take these characters out of it and build a story for them alone.
For a much better tragicomic look at grief, may I suggest the wonderfully bittersweet 1990 film about grief, Men Don't Leave. In it, Jessica Lange and Arliss Howard exhibit more chemistry in their first meeting than Hurt and Davis do in this whole film.