The Deep End of the Ocean (film)
Encyclopedia
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) is an American motion picture drama
directed by Ulu Grosbard
, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer
, Treat Williams
, Whoopi Goldberg
, Jonathan Jackson
and Ryan Merriman
. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
, a bestseller that was the very first novel selected by Oprah Winfrey
to be discussed on Oprah's Book Club
in 1996.
) and her husband Pat (Treat Williams
) experience a parent's worst fear when their son Ben vanishes in a crowded hotel lobby during Beth's high school reunion. The ensuing frantic search is unsuccessful, and Beth goes through a sustained nervous breakdown
. Unable to cope with her devastation, Beth unintentionally neglects her other children, Vincent (Jonathan Jackson
) and Kerry (Alexa Vega
). After nine years, the family has seemingly accepted that Ben has gone forever, when a familiar-looking boy (Ryan Merriman
) turns up at their house, introduces himself as Sam and offers to mow their lawn. Beth is convinced that Sam is actually her son, and begins an investigation that culminates in the discovery that Ben was kidnapped at the ill-fated high school reunion years ago, by a mentally unstable woman who was a high school classmate of Beth's. This woman brought up Ben as her own child, until she committed suicide. The attempted re-integration of Ben back into the Cappadora family produces painful results for all involved. Eventually the family decides that what's best for Ben is to return him to his adoptive father, but one night Vincent finds him playing basketball outside. Ben reveals that he remembered something from before his abduction, playing with Vincent and Vincent finding him, causing him to feel safe. Vincent, who has carried guilt for letting go of Ben at the reunion is forgiven by Ben who decides to return to living with his real family, but first plays a game of basketball with his brother with their parents secretly watching from their bedroom window.
, and a score of 45 on Metacritic
, indicating mixed reviews.
In the New York Times, Janet Maslin
praised the director and lead actress but criticised the music: "With a fine, impassioned performance from Michelle Pfeiffer
as the story's raw-nerved heroine, the film moves beyond the detective-story aspects of its material to concentrate on what kind of shock waves batter a family after an event like this... Grosbard
mercifully avoids melodrama. And he paces the film so simply and determinedly that its early scenes are like a string of picture postcards, each one depicting a new phase of the family's ordeal. Only when the film seeks tidy resolution for a tangled set of problems does this restraint seem overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation. But the only real false notes are musical ones, from a score by Elmer Bernstein
that turns familiar and trite when the film does not."
In Variety
, Emanuel Levy
praised all aspects of the film: "Michelle Pfeiffer
and Treat Williams
give such magnetic performances that they elevate the film way above its middlebrow sensibility and proclivity for neat resolutions... In the first reel, Pfeiffer is brilliant as an anxious mother consumed with finding her lost son. Dominating scene after scene, she conveys anguish and guilt in an all-out performance that ranks with her best... Coming from the theater, Grosbard
has always coaxed strong performances from his handpicked casts, but Deep Ends technical sheen places this outing at the top of his oeuvre. Stephen Goldblatt
's clean lensing, Elmer Bernstein
's evocative score, Dan Davis' crafty production design, Susie DeSanto's authentic costumes and, particularly, John Bloom's fluent editing serve as models for efficient storytelling, representing mainstream cinema at its best."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
, Edward Guthmann commended Pfeiffer and Jackson but was ultimately unimpressed: "Pfeiffer
, who segued into mother roles in her past two films, One Fine Day and A Thousand Acres
, brings heart and soul to this domestic melodrama, but it's not enough. The Deep End of the Ocean has nothing but the noblest of intentions, and Grosbard
's direction is meticulous, sober and tasteful, but the movie is so deliberate, so enervated that you feel as if you're watching it through glass... In a difficult role that he doesn't quite pull off, Ryan Merriman
plays Sam, the 12-year-old whose allegiance is split between two homes. As his damaged older brother, Jonathan Jackson
brings such confidence, maturity and self-possession that he seems to belong in another movie. And Whoopi Goldberg
- all-purpose, you-got-a-part-I'll-play-it Whoopi - shows up as a helpful detective named Candy Bliss."
In Rolling Stone
, Peter Travers
held a similar view: "The Deep End of the Ocean, from Jacquelyn Mitchard
's best-selling novel about parents who find their lost son nine years after his abduction, benefits from a customarily fine performance by Michelle Pfeiffer
as the boy's mother. Treat Williams
excels as the husband, as does Whoopi Goldberg
, a detective who helps the parents in their search. Director Ulu Grosbard
(Georgia
) and screenwriter Stephen Schiff
(Lolita
) commendably try to avoid the usual kidnapping clichés in favor of family dynamics, but the film ultimately gives in to a case of TV-movie blahs."
In Entertainment Weekly
, Michael Sauter also found the lead performances superior to the film as a whole: "The first half of this drama, with Pfeiffer
and Williams
as parents whose 3-year-old son vanishes, is almost unbearably wrenching... Far less effective, however, is the rest of the story, set nine years later, when the boy resurfaces... But if the film was less than satisfying as a big-screen event, it's still worth renting for Pfeiffer, who valiantly portrays the devastating complexities of grief and guilt."
Two extremely negative reviews came from Roger Ebert
in the Chicago Sun-Times
and Desson Howe in the Washington Post. Ebert wrote that "Ulu Grosbard
's The Deep End of the Ocean is a painfully stolid movie that lumbers past emotional issues like a wrestler in a cafeteria line, putting a little of everything on his plate. It provides big roles for Michelle Pfeiffer
and Treat Williams
, but doesn't provide them with the screenplay support they need; the result is that awkwardness when characters express emotions that the audience doesn't share." Howe described the "moments in The Deep End of the Ocean that will break your heart. After all, the movie – based on Jacquelyn Mitchard
's novel – is about losing a child. This is, essentially, emotional blackmail for anyone with a family. Two hundred monkeys fighting over one word processor could make you cry over material like that. Yet producer/star Michelle Pfeiffer
, director Ulu Grosbard
and scriptwriter Stephen Schiff
still mess things up. Apart from the previously mentioned occasions, and nice performances from Jonathan Jackson
and Ryan Merriman
, the movie's a floating longboat that ought to be ignited and pushed out to sea, Viking style."
won a Young Artist Award
for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
directed by Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Jonathan Jackson
Jonathan Jackson (actor)
Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...
and Ryan Merriman
Ryan Merriman
Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name
The Deep End of the Ocean
The Deep End of the Ocean is a best-selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard, released in 1996. It is about an American middle class, suburban family that is torn apart when the youngest son is kidnapped and raised by a mentally ill woman, until he appears at the frontdoor step of his real mother and...
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996...
, a bestseller that was the very first novel selected by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
to be discussed on Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club
Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new novel for viewers to read and discuss each month. The Club ended its 15-year run, along with...
in 1996.
Plot
Beth Cappadora (Michelle PfeifferMichelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
) and her husband Pat (Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
) experience a parent's worst fear when their son Ben vanishes in a crowded hotel lobby during Beth's high school reunion. The ensuing frantic search is unsuccessful, and Beth goes through a sustained nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
. Unable to cope with her devastation, Beth unintentionally neglects her other children, Vincent (Jonathan Jackson
Jonathan Jackson (actor)
Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...
) and Kerry (Alexa Vega
Alexa Vega
Alexa Ellesse Vega is an American actress, singer and pianist. She is best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids film series and Shilo Wallace in the movie Repo! the Genetic Opera. In 2009, she starred as the title character Ruby Gallagher in the ABC Family series Ruby & The...
). After nine years, the family has seemingly accepted that Ben has gone forever, when a familiar-looking boy (Ryan Merriman
Ryan Merriman
Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
) turns up at their house, introduces himself as Sam and offers to mow their lawn. Beth is convinced that Sam is actually her son, and begins an investigation that culminates in the discovery that Ben was kidnapped at the ill-fated high school reunion years ago, by a mentally unstable woman who was a high school classmate of Beth's. This woman brought up Ben as her own child, until she committed suicide. The attempted re-integration of Ben back into the Cappadora family produces painful results for all involved. Eventually the family decides that what's best for Ben is to return him to his adoptive father, but one night Vincent finds him playing basketball outside. Ben reveals that he remembered something from before his abduction, playing with Vincent and Vincent finding him, causing him to feel safe. Vincent, who has carried guilt for letting go of Ben at the reunion is forgiven by Ben who decides to return to living with his real family, but first plays a game of basketball with his brother with their parents secretly watching from their bedroom window.
Cast
- Michelle PfeifferMichelle PfeifferMichelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
as Beth Cappadora - Treat WilliamsTreat WilliamsRichard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
as Pat Cappadora - Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
as Candy Bliss - Jonathan JacksonJonathan Jackson (actor)Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...
as Vincent Cappadora - Age 16 - Cory Buck as Vincent Cappadora - Age 7
- Ryan MerrimanRyan MerrimanRyan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
as Ben Cappadora/Sam Karras - Age 12 - Alexa VegaAlexa VegaAlexa Ellesse Vega is an American actress, singer and pianist. She is best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids film series and Shilo Wallace in the movie Repo! the Genetic Opera. In 2009, she starred as the title character Ruby Gallagher in the ABC Family series Ruby & The...
as Kerry Cappadora - Michael McGrady as Jimmy Daugherty
- Brenda StrongBrenda StrongBrenda Lee Strong is an American actress and yoga instructor, known for her roles as as Capt. Deladier in the 1997 hit movie Starship Troopers and Mary Alice Young on the television show Desperate Housewives....
as Ellen - Michael McElroy as Ben Cappadora - Age 3
- Tony MusanteTony MusanteAnthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...
as Grandpa Angelo - Rose GregorioRose GregorioRose Gregorio is an American character actress. She began her career appearing mostly in theatre in Chicago and New York City during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s she became more active in television and film, appearing mostly in supporting roles...
as Grandma Rosie - John KapelosJohn KapelosJohn Kapelos is a Canadian actor from London, Ontario. He is best known for his portrayals of janitor Carl Reed in The Breakfast Club and Detective Donald Schanke in Forever Knight....
as George Karras - Lucinda JenneyLucinda Jenney-Career:Jenney began her acting career in 1984 with Hearts and Diamonds. Several roles followed throughout the eighties, appearing in the 1986 comedy The Whoopee Boys, the award-winning Peggy Sue Got Married, with Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage. She appeared as 'Iris' in the Oscar-winning film...
as Laurie - John RoseliusJohn RoseliusJohn Roselius is a well-known American film and television actor. He is married and has one daughter named Gena Roselius, named after Gena Rowlands, the wife of famous independent film director John Cassavetes his friend and mentor for many years...
as Chief Bastokovich
Reception
The Deep End of the Ocean holds a rating of 42% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, and a score of 45 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, indicating mixed reviews.
In the New York Times, Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
praised the director and lead actress but criticised the music: "With a fine, impassioned performance from Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
as the story's raw-nerved heroine, the film moves beyond the detective-story aspects of its material to concentrate on what kind of shock waves batter a family after an event like this... Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
mercifully avoids melodrama. And he paces the film so simply and determinedly that its early scenes are like a string of picture postcards, each one depicting a new phase of the family's ordeal. Only when the film seeks tidy resolution for a tangled set of problems does this restraint seem overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation. But the only real false notes are musical ones, from a score by Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
that turns familiar and trite when the film does not."
In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor.-Life:Emanuel Levy began his studies at Tel Aviv University, where he received B.A. in sociology, anthropology and political science. He did graduate work in sociology, film, and culture studies at Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D...
praised all aspects of the film: "Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
give such magnetic performances that they elevate the film way above its middlebrow sensibility and proclivity for neat resolutions... In the first reel, Pfeiffer is brilliant as an anxious mother consumed with finding her lost son. Dominating scene after scene, she conveys anguish and guilt in an all-out performance that ranks with her best... Coming from the theater, Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
has always coaxed strong performances from his handpicked casts, but Deep Ends technical sheen places this outing at the top of his oeuvre. Stephen Goldblatt
Stephen Goldblatt
Stephen Goldblatt, A.S.C., B.S.C. is a cinematographer, noted for his work on high-profile action films as well as for his recent collaborations with director Mike Nichols....
's clean lensing, Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
's evocative score, Dan Davis' crafty production design, Susie DeSanto's authentic costumes and, particularly, John Bloom's fluent editing serve as models for efficient storytelling, representing mainstream cinema at its best."
In the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, Edward Guthmann commended Pfeiffer and Jackson but was ultimately unimpressed: "Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, who segued into mother roles in her past two films, One Fine Day and A Thousand Acres
A Thousand Acres (film)
A Thousand Acres is an American motion picture drama directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Robards....
, brings heart and soul to this domestic melodrama, but it's not enough. The Deep End of the Ocean has nothing but the noblest of intentions, and Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
's direction is meticulous, sober and tasteful, but the movie is so deliberate, so enervated that you feel as if you're watching it through glass... In a difficult role that he doesn't quite pull off, Ryan Merriman
Ryan Merriman
Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
plays Sam, the 12-year-old whose allegiance is split between two homes. As his damaged older brother, Jonathan Jackson
Jonathan Jackson (actor)
Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...
brings such confidence, maturity and self-possession that he seems to belong in another movie. And Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
- all-purpose, you-got-a-part-I'll-play-it Whoopi - shows up as a helpful detective named Candy Bliss."
In Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
held a similar view: "The Deep End of the Ocean, from Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996...
's best-selling novel about parents who find their lost son nine years after his abduction, benefits from a customarily fine performance by Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
as the boy's mother. Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
excels as the husband, as does Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, a detective who helps the parents in their search. Director Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
(Georgia
Georgia (1995 film)
Georgia is a 1995 American independent film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham. In the film, Leigh played Sadie Flood, a punky barroom singer who has a complicated, jealous but loving relationship with her older sister, Georgia, played by Winningham. Georgia is a successful, talented...
) and screenwriter Stephen Schiff
Stephen Schiff
Stephen Schiff is an American screenwriter and journalist. He grew up in Littleton, Colorado and began his writing career at The Boston Phoenix, where he became the chief film critic and film editor , and hired and trained such critics as Owen Gleiberman and David Edelstein.In 1983, he was a...
(Lolita
Lolita (1997 film)
Lolita is a 1997 French-American drama film directed by Adrian Lyne. It is the second screen adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name and stars Jeremy Irons as Humbert Humbert and Dominique Swain as Dolores "Lolita" Haze, with supporting roles by Melanie Griffith as Charlotte Haze,...
) commendably try to avoid the usual kidnapping clichés in favor of family dynamics, but the film ultimately gives in to a case of TV-movie blahs."
In Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Michael Sauter also found the lead performances superior to the film as a whole: "The first half of this drama, with Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
as parents whose 3-year-old son vanishes, is almost unbearably wrenching... Far less effective, however, is the rest of the story, set nine years later, when the boy resurfaces... But if the film was less than satisfying as a big-screen event, it's still worth renting for Pfeiffer, who valiantly portrays the devastating complexities of grief and guilt."
Two extremely negative reviews came from Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
and Desson Howe in the Washington Post. Ebert wrote that "Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
's The Deep End of the Ocean is a painfully stolid movie that lumbers past emotional issues like a wrestler in a cafeteria line, putting a little of everything on his plate. It provides big roles for Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and Treat Williams
Treat Williams
Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
, but doesn't provide them with the screenplay support they need; the result is that awkwardness when characters express emotions that the audience doesn't share." Howe described the "moments in The Deep End of the Ocean that will break your heart. After all, the movie – based on Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.She is the author of the best-selling novel The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club, on September 17, 1996...
's novel – is about losing a child. This is, essentially, emotional blackmail for anyone with a family. Two hundred monkeys fighting over one word processor could make you cry over material like that. Yet producer/star Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
, director Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard
Ulu Grosbard is a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.Born in Antwerp, Grosbard emigrated to Havana with his family in 1942. In 1948, they moved to the United States, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago...
and scriptwriter Stephen Schiff
Stephen Schiff
Stephen Schiff is an American screenwriter and journalist. He grew up in Littleton, Colorado and began his writing career at The Boston Phoenix, where he became the chief film critic and film editor , and hired and trained such critics as Owen Gleiberman and David Edelstein.In 1983, he was a...
still mess things up. Apart from the previously mentioned occasions, and nice performances from Jonathan Jackson
Jonathan Jackson (actor)
Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, best known for playing Lucky Spencer, son of supercouple Luke and Laura on the American daytime drama General Hospital...
and Ryan Merriman
Ryan Merriman
Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
, the movie's a floating longboat that ought to be ignited and pushed out to sea, Viking style."
Awards and nominations
Ryan MerrimanRyan Merriman
Ryan Earl Merriman is an American actor. He began his acting career as a child actor during the mid-1990s and has appeared in several feature films and television shows.-Background:...
won a Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor.