Watch Men Don't Leave For Free

Absolutely amazing

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A suburban housewife in desperate need of emancipation is given her chance after the accidental death of her husband, forcing a relocation to (of all places) beautiful downtown Baltimore. After overcoming the usual obstacles she inevitably learns, together with her two sons, how to love again, with lots of not unpredictable bonding: mother to new boyfriend; teenage son to older girlfriend; mother to son; son to mother's boyfriend, and so forth. Director Paul Brickman's second film in almost a decade (after 'Risky Business' in 1983) shows he maybe should have stayed more in practice, and perhaps shared some of the attention given to visual symmetry and prettiness (courtesy of cinematographer Bruce Surtees) with the screenplay instead. The acting is excellent (nobody demonstrates an emotional breakdown quite like Jessica Lange), but all the offbeat characters and arresting images don't add up to anything more than a simple Home Sweet Home greeting card advertisement.

MEN DON'T LEAVE (1990) ***1/2 Jessica Lange, Arliss Howard, Joan Cusack, Kathy Bates, Chris O' Donnell, Charlie Korsmo. Engaging comedy/drama focusing on Lange as a recently widowed mother facing some tough realities and meeting some interesting people. Fine performances, particularly O' Donnell (in his film debut) and Korsmo as her sons, both revealing painful moments expertly. Directed with panache by Paul Brickman ("Risky Business").

Ho-hum. Another "what's a housewife to do after she's left on her own" flick. You have your helpless mother, your surly teenager, and your depressed little kid. Enter Joan Cusack and Arliss Howard with two fine performances (I especially liked the accordian sequence)and the film comes alive. However, I sensed no real rapport between Lange and Howard. In fact, Lange seemed to have walked through her role as an after-thought.

Widow with two growing sons must become her family's breadwinner, keeping everyone's spirits up while dating again for the first time in many years. It doesn't surprise me that people have to see this picture twice or more to get into the movie's grooves. The handling is very focused, the writing gets us from A to Z smoothly enough, but the tone of "Men Don't Leave" is quirky, to say the least. Sometimes I wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. At times it seems to go overboard, other times it hits a perfect note yet doesn't follow through. Still, the overall effect of this movie is genuinely pleasurable. It's not a big, chancy movie with issues, it's quiet and small and heartfelt. There are little scenes of emotion that well up into big hurts (and disappointments like the lottery family that just KILL us), and all the acting is so wonderful, particularly Jessica Lange (a shaky tower of strength). I loved it when the German woman gets Jessica to dance, or when she gets a nosebleed while kissing Arliss Howard for the first time, or throwing all her muffins out the window while feigning basketball moves. And what about Kathy Bates as the boss from Hell? It's an erratic film (with a puzzling title), yet I admired it greatly, and it has stuck with me over all these years. ***1/2 from ****