The Perfect Family

I'm surprised at such a low score for this movie! First, please know that I was born, baptized, and raised Catholic. I've since moved to another religion, but not for any "Catholic hate" reasons at all. So I have a STRONG knowledge of Catholicism. It seems MOST of the negative reviews claim it's "Christian/Catholic bashing"... I would wonder how many of those folks actually WATCHED it or just wrote a review based on a presupposed notion. There is NO Christian bashing at all IMO. Just portraying people such as I've known all my life the way they are, and the portrayal isn't bad in any way, as far as I'm concerned.

Overall it's very balanced - yeah there's a few potshots at Catholics ("I don't have to think... I'm Catholic") but overall, the portrayal is VERY accurate to my Catholic upbringing and those in the faith I know today. Sure, hardly ANY nuns still wear the habit - but it's just little things. By and large the portrayal I thought was fair on ALL SIDES, not only for the Catholics but all the other characters.

I'll be honest and say I FULLY EXPECTED a "Christians are stupid knuckle dragging Neanderthals" flick - I expected to shut it off half way through. Instead, I watched the whole thing and rather enjoyed it.

The movie itself actually plays quite well - Kathleen Turner takes a bit of getting used to because of her very deep, manly voice... but overall, it has a nicely done "indie" feel to it in every way.

No, it's NOT an award contender in any way - some of the acting is rather stiff and forced, the plot is predictable, and there are quite a few clichés and stereotypes. But it's VERY watchable, totally held my attention, was touching in places, and ENJOYABLE to watch right up to the end for me.

Give it a shot - don't let the negative reviews implying it's a "Christian bashing" flick deter you.

As a fallen-down Catholic with reservations about the Church, I wasn't prepared for an even-tempered story about a devout mother, Eileen (Kathleen Turner) facing a family at odds with some basic Church doctrines. While I still stay away, I found The Perfect Family wise about the devotion of true believers and wary of extremists.

Eileen has been nominated for Catholic Woman of the Year (disclosure: one of my former wives was elected Vermont Catholic Mother of the Year—a true irony). In order to impress the archbishop, she must show an exemplary family. Not easy, as she discovers a son about to divorce and a daughter marrying a woman and having a child. Modern as these situations are, they are not acceptable to the teachings of the church about the sanctity of marriage and children born of that union. The film gently but assuredly moves Eileen's life along just as you might expect it to go with any contemporary Catholic family facing decisions.

Although the denouement is too pat, it doesn't deviate too much from what might really happen, and with a little surprise accompanying it all. Kathleen Turner provides the right amount of hyper-ventilation when faced with the truth of her children's situations and her formerly alcoholic husband. Richard Chamberlain as Monsignor Murphy shows director Anne Renton's sense of humor using an actor who played a randy prelate in The Thorn Birds. In Catholic town, nothing is as it seems except for my very real indoctrination by the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

"I don't have to think, I'm catholic." Eileen Cleary (Turner) has finally been nominated for Catholic Woman Of The Year and wants to win it badly. She will stop at nothing to win which includes trying to cover up her families choices. She then becomes conflicted as to winning or being a supportive mother. I have to start by saying that after the first half hour I was almost ready to turn this off. I'm not saying that it wasn't good but just really slow and seemed to lack emotion. The more I watched the better it got though and I really liked the ending. For a movie like this the ending was perfect. My biggest problem with this movie is that it seemed to lack real emotion and all the performances seemed flat and phoned in. I'm not sure what it was but I just felt like it was missing something to make me feel for the characters. Overall, a movie with a perfect ending that is worth watching but was lacking any real emotion from the actors. I give it a B-.

I disagree with some of the reviewers here. This movie is true to the point for very devout Catholics. I grew up Catholic and saw a lot of prejuidice towards people because of the faith. The practices and beliefs of the Catholic church have hurt many people and this movie points to those. It also is a movie about growth. Not just in everyday relationships, but with yourself, and how one must balance real life and religion. This movie isn't to put down or make fun of Catholicism, rather those that are obsessed with how they are taken by their community. One can have faith (any faith) and still love and accept everyone, this movie teach this.

As a person raised in a strict Catholic community it warmed my heart to see this movie. I wish it was shown at every Catholic church in the world because the acceptance and forgiveness in this movie is more in keeping with the teachings of Christ than the hate that is spewed by the sheep in his name. How anyone could think this is anti-catholic when it is all about what it means to be a real follower of Jesus and about God's love for all his creations. The only unbelievable thing was that the mother would be able to forgive herself and accept her children when the reality is many Catholics will reject and harm their children rather than question their self-serving dogma.