The movie had the drab feel of early 90's movies, though the cast was well put together and acted well. There were points in the movie where I was sincerely touched, which is always nice, but other times the movie took odd turns. The ending in particular was nothing to write home about. And I must say ruined the movie for me. For the beginning middle, and near end of the movie I was really touched and it had me in one of those moods where I rethink every detail of my pitiful life. The ending ruined it for me. I watched the credits scroll and thought to myself "That has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen", but the movie had me going for a majority of it, so I didn't rate the movie too low. It was.... alright. I would recommend it to a not-so big movie person, but wouldn't watch it again.

A pure masterpiece.! According to me one of the best movie ever.Michael Keaton becomes my favorite Actor after watching this movie. As we all know Michael Keaton is the most underrated Actor in the Hollywood Industry and that breaks my heart in a certain way. his acting in this film is INEXPRESSIBLE. Nicole Kidman supported him(Keaton)pretty well as his wife.! The Director of this movie is Bruce Joel Rubin, writer of GHOST(Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore). He did a Marvelous job by directing this movie. But, this movie didn't get any attention whatsoever. that's just bizarre. To be honest i seriously think Keaton should have won the Oscar for his UNBELIEVABLE performance but, despite of that he didn't even get the nomination.! If you really want to see a good family movie you should watch it.!

I watched this movie again after many years and it still moves me to sobbing tears. Bruce Joel Rubin wrote and directed what a lot of people would consider one of the most emotionally moving motion pictures ever made. His vision of childhood disappointment and hanging onto anger are so accurate. His portrait of a young family before, during and after a birth are also very accurate and amusing. And the way he wrote and captured a family accepting, preparing and experiencing a terminal death is so touching and very, very real.It's a shame that Bruce Joel Rubin wasn't recognized for an Oscar, but I guess the Academy figured since he already had one (for writing Ghost), he didn't need another.This movie easily marks Keaton's finest performance, in my opinion. He gets to show off his funny side as well as display some pretty deep emotions. As many IMDb members have already stated, he's one of the most underrated actors.For anyone that has lost a family member to cancer, you will immediately be brought back to the time you lost your loved one. It is so true to life - really well done. For anyone who hasn't lost a loved one to cancer, you will be reminded that life is so precious. Whoever you are, you will cry - so have the tissues handy.

I am certainly not vested with the skills of a movie critic, but I do have my personal opinions. I have bypassed this film for 13 years, because every time I started to watch it I got negative vibes and moved on to something else. Last night I watched it all the way through for the first time. From now on I am going to trust my intuition. I am very forgiving of the anomalies in a film if the subject matter is interesting enough to prompt suspension of reality for a bit, so after the vibes started to kick in last night, I made a willful decision to suspend reality and give the benefit of the doubt. In my average viewer opinion, the acting in this film was worse than that in "Plan Nine From Outer Space". On several occasions I got the impression that Michael Keaton was just rehearsing his lines and they kept the cameras running as a spoof. There was one instance where he was in bed with his wife and he had some kind of attack that threw him across the bed and on to the floor. As he picked himself off the floor, his acting was so lame that I totally expected him to say, "okay the next line is yours". I think they must have given Nicole Kidman a Valium before each take. These two did no acting, they just said their lines. The actors in "Plan Nine" at least knew they were making a film.