THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Columbia Pictures/Mandalay Entertainment Director: Ulu Grosbard Writer: Stephen Schiff, book by Jacquelyn Mitchard Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, John Kapelos, Ryan Merriman, Whoopi Goldberg
They say that blood is thicker than water and that biology is destiny. This means that no matter what friends you make and what business acquaintances you bond with, you can ultimately trust only your own family.
They also say that no one should profit from the outcomes of a criminal act. If you innocently buy a Rolex watch which is later found to have been stolen by the seller, you are required to return the watch to its rightful owner.
These homilies underscore Ulu Grosbard's "The Deep End of the Ocean," adapted by Stephen Schiff from the best- selling novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard. The story centers on a boy not quite three years of age who suddenly disappears from a hotel lobby when his mother briefly turns her back. When he is found nine years later remembering nothing about his true parents, he is taken from his adoptive father's home and placed back with his real mom and dad. If blood is thicker than water, he should quickly acclimate to the new surroundings, content to be with his natural parents. The judicial system also considers that a boy who is kidnapped by a woman, later adopted by a man who is innocent of the crime. must return him in the same manner that we he would have to give up a stolen Rolex that he may have blamelessly purchased.
Though the seventy-year-old Ulu Grosbard has worked only sporadically in the film industry, he appears a wise choice to direct a movie of this genre. Thirty years ago he helmed a film adaptation of Frank Gilroy's play "The Subject Was Roses," about a young veteran's strained relationship with his parents, though three years later he proved inept in dealing with comedy when he directed Dustin Hoffman in "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" "The Deep End of the Ocean," like "Roses," is about strained relationships between a twelve-year-old kid, Ben, and his parents; between Ben and his older brother Vincent; and between Ben's adoptive father and the boy's natural parents. Anguish, tensions, and hostilities fill the screen, leaving little time even for Whoopi Goldberg's comic touches in a melodrama that goes clear over the border into the realm of TV soap opera.
The title of the film comes from a quote in Jacqueline Mitchard's 1996 book, a novel which proves only that the public's taste for conventional, tear-jerking family stories is insatiable. "Are we at the deep end, Mom?" wonders little Ben, to which the mother replies, "This is the ocean, Ben. There is no deep end of the ocean." "It looks too deep," counters the kid. "Don't be afraid," Mom reassures him. "Mama would never let the ocean snatch you away."
Despite this promise made by Beth (Michelle Pfeiffer) to her child, Ben (Michael McElroy), she leaves the boy briefly in the care of his seven-year-old brother, Vincent (Cory Buck) as she straightens out hotel reservations at a high-school reunion in Chicago. The kid vanishes. Though half the Chicago police force search frantically for the lad, he does not turn up--for nine years. When the 12-year-old Ben (Ryan Merriman) does turn up in a coincidence far too improbable to believe, he is ordered to return to his natural folks against his will. Given a similar situation, wouldn't you rebel against leaving a man who has loved and sheltered you for nine years only to be put into a strange home of people you do not remember and with whom you spent only one-third of that time? The question that pervades the film is: Will the kid do the right thing and return to the man who has shown him kindness and affection for nine years? Or will he follow his genes back to his "natural" home?
The dialogue is filled with fatuous daytime-TV dialogue. Pat Cappadora (Treat Williams), the boy's father, appeals to his distraught wife Beth (Michelle Pfeiffer), "All I want is for us to be a family again." In another situation, Beth's friend declares, "I would never do a thing to hurt you." Ben's adoptive father George (John Kapelos) looks with pity on his boy's sorrowful appearance and angrily informs his real parents, "He's never had a sad day in his life....today he's the saddest boy in the world." Even the attempts at comedy by Whoopi Goldberg as police detective Candy Bliss are feeble. When Beth tries to hug the sympathetic detective, she pulls back reflexively, excusing herself by stating that she's gay, she's black, and "the eyes of Texas are on me."
Michelle Pfeiffer does what she can with a banal script to evoke sympathy from the movie audience while Treat Williams is underutilized as the demanding father. The best performances are from young Ryan Merriman as the bewildered but highly intelligent and articulate Ben, who is as good at throwing baskets on the family court as he is in expressing his feelings without even a single use of words such as "like," "you know what I'm saying," and "totally." Jonathan Jackson is fine as the typical teenager who has to deal with the sibling envy that led him to lose his brother nine years back and which even now compels him to persuade the boy to run away from home.
Though the film is superior to the hopelessly cloying "Message in a Bottle," "The Deep End of the Ocean" drowns in its own mawkishness after feeble attempts now and then to come up for air.
Rated PG-13. Running Time: 106 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
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