Children of Divorce

Being a big fan of Fritz Weaver, I watched this movie strictly to see him and he was fabulous. Unfortunately, he was the only fabulous character. This film is basically a soap opera. It's sincerely trying to educate viewers on how painful divorce is to children, but it keeps slipping and choking on all the suds.

(Oh no, my word count is too low here. What else can I say? I actually found this film on tape years ago and bought it. I doubt it was ever put on DVD and never see it streaming anywhere. It would be a good movie for Amazon Prime to get, since it is a TV-Movie-Of-The-Week sort of film.)

Granted, divorce is a major life event in many kids' lives, but it wasn't until the 70s and 80s that the high divorce rate gave rise to a heightened awareness of detrimental effects of splitting up on the kids. What we have here is an afterschool special expanded and sexed up for nighttime consumption. The story follows the break-up of several marriages and the resulting side effects on the kids, utilizing quite a few familiar faces from 70s TV (Susanne Crough, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY'S winsome tambourine-banger Tracy, turns in a rare post-PF role). Billy Dee Williams, Barbara Feldon, Kim Fields, and Lance Kerwin all appear. As their families disintegrate, the kids react in different ways. One kid overeats, another begins failing at school. Kim Fields becomes a pre-teen alcoholic, and Lance Kerwin and a girl whose parents are also breaking up have sex and then eat Chinese food while wearing kimonos afterward! Scandel! Outrage!

Barbara Feldon plays a wealthy woman who loses her husband and all her money. Her obese son eats a week's worth of groceries in one sitting. How will they survive?

Kim Fields plays a gymnast with a drinking problem. Can her parents stop their bickering to help her?

Lance Kerwin plays a teen from a working class family and his mom Stella Stevens and Greg Mullally keep forcing him to take sides.