User Reviews

***SPOILERS*** Breakout movie for the then 28 year old actress Laura Linney as drug and alcohol addicted Phoebe Ryan who's secret life of living in the fast lane came out into the open when her equally cocaine sniffing husband Charlie, Reed Diamond, ended up killing himself in a car smashup. Being seven months pregnant at the time Phoebe survived the accident being in critical condition with her baby girl Olivia being born one month premature.

It's Phoebe mom congresswoman Nell Harringtonn, Joanne Woodward, who is shocked to find out that both her beloved son-in-law Charlie and daughter were doing drugs behind her and her husband Simon's, Fritz Weaver, back all these years! And now with Charlie her campaign manager in her run for the Senate dead and exposed, to her and her husband, as a drug abuser she sees her run for the Senate now go up in flames! That together with Pheobe's future in polities and the entertainment, Pheobe is a nightclub singer, world. Not to mention the future of her granddaughter Olivie who's hooked on cocaine because of her mother's addiction to it!

The movie has Nell try to get Phoebe help by getting her off the stuff,drugs & alcohol, with very little cooperation of her daughter. It's Phoebe who seems to have a death wish not just for herself but her new born baby daughter Olivia. The drug and alcohol abuse together with the tragic death of her husband Charlie had so screwed up Phoebe's head that nothing short of a miracle can straighten her out. And that miracle turned out to be "Family House" a place that takes in drug addicted mothers and their likewise children and is alway hard up for cash to keep its operation going.

Phoebe who at first resisted all attempts to cure her soon saw that life on the streets and the addiction to hard drugs that comes along with it isn't the way to live and bring up her daughter Olivia. As well as treat her loving parents Nell & Simon who did everything possible, even pay off the "Family House" chief administrator, to get her into the program.

Laura Linney is both amazingly realistic as well as tragic in her role as Phoebe Ryan and gives the film the honesty and creditability that it needs to make its point. Not that everyone else in the cast like Joanne Woodward & Fritz Weaver didn't do an excellent job as Phoebe's concerned and,in them not noticing her drug addiction sooner, guilt ridden parents. But it was Miss Linney who was the glue that kept the movie together and thus made it successful in showing the audience the horrors as well as consequences of drug addiction. And how it effects everyone from those rich and powerful, like the Harringtons, to the helpless and unwed mothers at the "Family House" who Phoebe became friends with.

I really enjoyed this movie...except it's hard to say enjoy when it comes to a drama, which this most definately is. The performances were outstanding. Joanne Woodward is amazing (but then again, isn't she always?), Laura Linney (who I don't normally like) was also fantastic. Well, here's the jist of it. Nell Harrington (Woodward) has prettymuch the perfect life. She's state representative, she's got a great marriage, her daughter Phoebe (Linney) is married to the head of her staff (Charlie- who she adores)and is pregnant, and Nell's about to run for the Senate. Phoebe gets rather irritable at one of Nell's speeches and they have a short little mother-daughter talk. And Nell says something we assume she's said before from Phoebe's reaction. Nell: "I guess I was just lucky to feel fantastic all the way through my pregnancy with you. I argued a case in front of the Supreme Court the day before I had to you- and I won it, too. And I was back on the job six days later." Then, there is a car accident. Charlie is dead, Phoebe is left with just a few bruises. They find out that Charlie was on cocaine. Not only was Charlie the head of her staff, but also her son-in-law, which is why Nell's press secretary is nervous the media will get a hold of the story.

Little by little, it's found out that Phoebe is on cocaine too...and she's pregnant. Nell gets her into a prestigious place called "the Family house" for Phoebe to get help. The movie is extremely good...I was in tears, yes. But I am ALWAYS in tears at every movie I've seen. The acting is positively superb. See this movie!!!

For the pregnant Laura Linney, the death of her husband after a cocaine induced car accident makes her take the steps to become sober and deal with not only her addiction but being a new mother and dealing with her own mother, Senator Joanne Woodward, a domineering mother who loves deeply but judgmentally and domineeringly. This powerful TV drama shows the issues that leads to the addiction outside of recreation, and far too many people are not only impacted but must cope with their own involvement. Since her husband is dead, Linney can't confront him, but Woodward and loving but brutally honest husband Fritz Weaver must face their own ordeal and the impact this has on their marriage, neither of them without some responsibility, and far too stubborn to accept their responsibility, that is until they have to.

As a senator, Woodward's character uses these issues to promote programs for drug addicted mothers, having met Linney's fellow patients in rehab. As the director of the rehab center, Sharon Washington creates a very memorable character, quite tough, but without judgment and caring enough to really make a difference. She's by far the smartest and most compassionate character in the story, and really stands out, truly impressive with Woodward, Weaver and Linney in the leads. Linney's character is unique in the sense that she shows that even someone from an upscale background can get hooked, and the psychology goes deeper than what is visible on the street. A top notch teleplay makes this riveting from every aspect, and that makes this a modern TV classic.