This film has received much criticism for it’s perceived bias towards male fathers, but seeing it years on – and admitting that I am a man – it seems fair. Dustin Hoffman was clearly a neglectful husband and father, that’s made clear from the get-go – and Meryl Streep is evidently depressed. I understand mothers taking off but taking off and not seeing their child for over a year when they are young – that is big time. So it would be a mistake to regard her as a “typical unmarried mother”. (The Jane Alexander character would be closer to that.)
A story treated with sensitivity and intelligence, plus some excellent acting. It’s not a good-looking film – everyone seems to wear grey or beige suits (were there really so many late middle aged men working in advertising in New York in the late 70s), and it’s shot like a TV show. Howard Duff impresses as Hoffman’s lawyer (he looks like a boozer, with a terrific speaking voice) and the guy who plays Streep’s lawyer went on to play a defendant lawyer on Law and Order. Jo Beth Williams livens things up with some nudity (I remember this gag from the Mad magazine spoof).
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