A winner on my list

pj-103

No, it's not a comedy, though there's some classic Matthau/Burnett wisecracking in the beginning, during the courtship. Once their son Robbie is born, life goes the course it often does in Peter de Vries novels (it's adapted from "Witch's Milk"), chronicling the ups and downs of suburban American life. There are some splendid turns by René Auberjonois and Geraldine Page. And check out Tillie's devastating undermining of Pete's shallow paramour over cocktails.

Spoiler: when their son Robbie comes down with terminal leukemia, the story takes somewhat predictable turns, morphing from what might at first have seemed a comedy into a reach-for-the-hankie melodrama.

I give it a ten, though, because of the performances and the mise-en-scène.

score 10/10

pj-103 28 June 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1404952/