My Beautiful Son

See this beautiful, loving drama. Every character a gem. A super script. Rich and excellent acting. Laugh, love, cry. This is what it's all about. Movies can enlighten us and release us. Sometimes they actually do.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure about this film after reading the description of it. It had the potential to be really sappy. But I was totally blown away by it. It delivered on everything--the writing, the story, and the acting. It was ultimately an emotionally draining experience.

The story revolves around Jerry Lipman (Paul Reiser), a Jewish New York psychologist. After being diagnosed with leukemia, his mother, played by Olympia Dukakis, tells him he was actually adopted. His real birth mother was/is a Catholic woman from Liverpool, England. When he discovers she's still alive and has two other sons who might be possible bone marrow donors, he pays them a visit. This is where the majority of the film takes place and what a wild ride it is!

His mother Sheila (Dame Julie Walters) is quite a character. She's a sweet, loving matriarch who is overjoyed to finally be reunited with her son. Dame Walters delivers an incredible performance. While trying to reconnect with his two brothers, he ends up falling in love with his brother's ex-wife. Maureen (Amy Robbins), which further complicates the story. Without giving away any more of this excellent movie, let's just say you'll need to have some tissues handy. It's a fun, complicated, and yes, gut-wrenching journey. Just a solid hour and a half of solid movie viewing.

This has everything. I mean EVERYTHING. A very good plot and storyline with a major, unforeseen twist, excellent acting, huge emotional attachment, a really fun and witty dialogue, educational, with excellent acting, good DP work with a backdrop of Liverpool and NYC, decent music and sound engineering. I LOVED this movie.

But for some reason, probably at the agreement of Granada (UK) and Showtime (US) it was never really pushed as a theatrical release (most likely poor marketing and publicity). The credits are done very cheaply and this suggests Showtime and Granada either a) ran out of money or b) didn't believe in it. Either way, a major shame.

This is a gem!

Just watch it and let yourself be emotionally moved in all directions.

Always a pleasure to enjoy the talent of Julie Walters, here she is supported by an exceptionally gifted cast. Starting and ending in the luxury of New York, the main story in the film takes place in the slums of Liverpool with any number of quite believable scenes. The supporting cast may be drawn with a rather thick felt pen but add enormous colour to the general atmosphere. This is a film which will obviously mean more to, and be enjoyed more by English audiences. So much of the dialogue and so many remarks are probably incomprehensible to other nationalities and that includes Americans. This is a film to be enjoyed for all its good points and not to be criticized for all its weaknessess. The right type of viewer will find themselves wondering if they are crying from laughter or pure sentiment. A brilliant performance by Julie Walters

I just watched this movie, and thought that it was great. I can totally relate to this story because I am adopted, and have found my birth family. They did a wonderful job with this movie, from character development, to just a great cast.

I don't understand how one of the commenters here said that they didn't really like it because it wasn't the kind of movie they wanted to see. I wouldn't watch Mission Impossible 2 and complain because there were no zombies in it.

If you watch this movie, expect to have no expectations. It's like nothing that you've ever seen before ( at least I haven't ). They took the very risky subject of adoption, and made a brilliant movie. I give it 10 out of 10.