User reviews

I ran across this movie on a boring TV night, and continued watching it only for "Charlie" (Chad Christ) who was quite handsome for a TV movie character... The film was about the lives of Charlie and his mom (Suzanne Somers) who was suffering from a *major* drinking problem. Charlie's sole purpose in life was to go to Yale, but as usual, life didn't go quite the way he expected...

I found the mom's drinking parts overly exaggerated and also the fact Chad's girlfriend stayed with them for so long without her parents giving a damn. Well, I can't say this movie was that bad, but it certainly wasn't the type of film that would drive people away from alcohol or make them start using condoms or any other educational merits. Usual made-for-TV corn, 6/10.

I liked this movie a lot. I think that Selma Blair did an excellent job in this movie. And the drinking parts were not over exaggerated at all, if anything under exaggerated. You can not cure a woman that addicted to alcohol in one weekend, someone like that would take probably at least 3 months. I didn't really like how the boy acted like none of it was his fault, it was all hers, and she was ruining his life. He really needed to grow up.

i give this movie a 8/10

which says a great deal, for a Lifetime Movie. While the other characters are a bit underdeveloped, the audience empathizes with Ms. Somers, who portrays a widow raising a son,(Chad Allen) on her own.

Robert Desiderio portrays a concerned suitor (to Somers) who tries to help Charlie (Jonathan Jackson) decide between college or young fatherhood; while the story is hardly original, Desiderio adds substance to the film, as does Suzanne Somers.

In real life, Ms. Somers endured veritable hell, as her own father was a full-blown alcoholic; this is part of the reason, I believe, that she does so well in this movie, and deserves special mention. I would like to see her in more of these roles, where she has a chance to be more than the trite blonde femme fatale.

Selma Blair has the part of the troubled girlfriend; this was the only weak link to the story; while Somers is struggling to survive and pay her mortgage, the son's girlfriend lives in a mausoleum; this is the usual Lifetime plot exaggeration, to show the audience that Somers (the alcoholic) has it worse than the "öther people" of upper classes. This is a banal exaggeration; think of real people who "have it all"(Betty Ford, Elizabeth Taylor, Kate Moss; et. al.) and you will see my point.

While there are several flaws in the story flow, Somers especially makes the story work. She is believable and sympathetic; the part where she finally attends AA is realistic.

The one issue that was hard to swallow was her employer, generously offering her 3 months sabbatical, after learning of her illness. This movie may have been even more effective if it addressed real-life employment issues, where people are fired for having excessive absences even due to medical illness. This is a prevalent problem in American society, which is rarely addressed by Hollywood filmmakers.

Despite this, it is a worthwhile movie, and if you have any friends or relatives with this problem, it will certainly show you the unintentionally selfish acts of the alcoholic, who can rarely receive treatment until they decide to do so.

Hey all I got this movie off of someone on Ebay. I watched this movie the other day. it was really good. I thought that it would teach children not to drink. And not to do it before marriage cause that might get them pregnant. It was a good movie for me to watch. i know I will never drink or do it before marriage. I thought Suzanne Somers did a good job in this movie and so did the other characters. I will watch this movie over and over again it was so good. well thats all i have to say about this movie. I would recommend you see this movie. It would teach you a good lesson. I thought the little girl Kate was so cute. and how she grew up at the end and Emma got married at the end of the movie.