Too Close to Home

An incredible performance! This is one of the best films i have seen ever. I know this is being said a lot, but i bet you will not regret watching this film.

It's great from the very beginning to the last second. The acting (of especially the mother - played by Judith Light) is so convincing, there are not many other films i've seen that could compare to it, and it seems it's impossible not to feel anything for the people in this drama.

There are lots and lots of movies made every year, but if you have to choose just to see a few in your life - make this one of them.

While I don't normally like these types of formulaic films on LMN, this one works thanks to Judith Light. She is extremely believable as over-protective and rather sociopath mother, Diana Donahue, the last woman, according to "Crimelibrary", to be executed by the electric chair in California.

She basically sends her son through law school, and at first seems to have only his best intentions as her concern. When he later begins dating a nurse (Sarah Trigger) the pathology starts as Mrs. Donahure realizes she is now losing her son for good to a new wife.

If you enjoy this type of story you may also like "Mother Love" shown on PBS with Diana Rigg. A film made in the early 90's concerning a similar storyline, both very well done with good performances.

I'm not in favor of death penalties but in this movie, it couldn't happen fast enough. Just to end the movie. I don't understand why this movie is rated as high as it is. It fooled me into a bad night.

The movie was certainly true to the real life story on which it was based. It was hard for me to find newspaper articles about the actual facts, but when I located them, I could see that truth, in this case, was stranger than fiction. Judith Light was frighteningly evil in her role as the mother in this movie, so much so that it was difficult to separate her from the role, the mark I think of an excellent performance. Rick Schroder was appropriately clueless as her son who also defended her in court, an example of how hard it can be in some circumstances for a child to accept the actions of a parent, no matter how criminal they may be. One can find fault with the movie, but not with its treatment of the reality on which it was based.

I suppose like most of you, I use this site to scope movies I might hear about, to see if I'd like to watch, or to fill-in gaps from some I might only catch in-part - and to read others' comments (which are at times better than the flicks.

With respect to the film, though, I would simply say the the first-listed comment (by "captnhook13") coincides precisely with my thoughts about this movie.

I'd simply add, that between Light's sociopathic actions and dialogs with regard to her son (Schroder) and his weak, naive, mealy-mouth schlepping about -- I kept wishing Moe from The Three Stooges would suddenly appear on-screen, and commence slapping them around, bopping them in their heads with a mallet, and squeezing their noses -- the way he did so often to Curly and Larry. In "The Shining," Jack Nicholson was more likable, after he went bonkers, than Light is here.

If you want to have an interesting mind trip -- with Schroder nearly 30 in this film -- ponder what would be in a prequel, detailing for a couple of hours Ricky's character in his childhood and teen years with this mom!