When I recall “Apollo 13” (1995), I envision a scene where Cmdr. Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) gazes out the window of his space capsule at a lunar surface he longs to touch but can’t due to his wounded ship. When I go back and re-watch the film, the scene is shorter and less poignant. As a filmmaker, Ron Howard has a way of taking things that happened and making them seem more like we want to remember (or imagine). It’s a gift and a curse, because Howard is snickered at by some who live a more ironic life. Pity them.
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There’s a long list of movies where Stereotypical Suburban Family suffers a tragedy, is screwed over by the justice system, decides to take the law into its own hands, and has to weigh the philosophical magnitude of the decision. The tone of the times determines the ending. “Eye for an Eye” (1996) adds to the list without adding much artistic originality. Sally Field is the hyperbolically irrational mom and Ed Harris is the rock-solid dad. Their daughter is killed by psychopath Kiefer Sutherland, whose character is incredibly well fleshed out (no pun intended). He’s really the only reason to watch.
It starts out like a cliché rom-com variation in which a spurned wife goes to war against the woman who replaced her. You expect hijinks to ensue and the mismatched moms in “Stepmom” (1998) to eventually unite against some type of greater evil, with hilariously heartwarming results. However, the greater evil is cancer, an uneasy truce suffices for teamwork, sadness befalls everyone, and there’s lots of speeches that sound like they were edited by a committee of Hallmark-approved psychologists. It’s a box-of-Kleenex, pint-of-ice-cream tearjerker that will make you happy it ruined your night, if you’re into these kinds of movies.
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