When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his attitude and tolerance.........Which to be fair is really good considering his situation.And this is why the film really rubbed me up the wrong way. Whom is the victim in this relationship? Is it Ryan? She has a disease, so she is forgiven when she strikes her daughter and tries to commit the most selfish act any human can do.Is it Garcia? A hard working put upon husband who is always on tenterhooks as to whether he can go and do an honest days work, without worrying about the sobriety of his Wife.Sure, he loses his temper a little halfway through the film, so when Saint Meg comes out of rehab all clean and sober, to thank Garcia, she throws him out of the house with a doe eyed look.It's a terrible film with an awful message.It's basically saying if you are middle class with a good income and plenty of hiding spaces,then it's okay to be a drunk, because you have respect from your peers and all your friends. Ryan plays an awful drunk, slightly slurring and shouting at times, and then when she is better, she goes from slightly irritating drunk, to downright abhorrent angel.There's no realism to the film, and to add the ice to the cocktail, we finish with an award ceremony where Ryan gives a speech about everything bad she has done, and Garcia is there and they all live happily ever after.If you want to see a film about hoe alcohol can affect home life, see Nil by Mouth.If you want to stay in your silly bubble see this, it's so unrealistic, it almost veers into the world of fantasy.Honestly, Arthur was more realistic than this.Cheers.

Sorry.., I couldn't get past the first scene. "Would you like to do my laundry?" Hello? Meg Ryan should have destroyed him with an affirmative retort. Instead, she fell for this dope. This is the third Meg Ryan movie where she falls in love with an idiot, the other two being When Harry Met Sally and You've Got Mail. Honestly.., that scene with her in the bar meeting that pompous "airline pilot" really made me nauseated. What should have been her reply when he asked her to "Go get his laundry"? Any of these would have worked: "Oh, you fly an airliner? What an exalted way to sit on your ass for a living!" "I have absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day. My schedule is totally empty. I don't have to go back to work after lunch,and I don't even have to eat dinner. I'd be glad to be your delivery whore." "Carrot cake? Did you say carrot cake? What do you say I smash this guy's beer glass against your head?"

I've always appreciated this film for its honest look at how insidious alcoholism is and how it devastates those around the addict. I watched it again on a lazy Saturday afternoon and, despite its flaws, its an excellent film and a great look at how alcoholism is a family disease.Meg Ryan's Alice is an alcoholic in a comfortable though unhealthy marriage with Andy Garcia's Michael, an enabler and rescuer. Alice hits rock bottom and heads off to detox. The family struggles while she is away, but still struggles when Alice gets back and fights to stay clean and sober. This is one of the greatest strengths of the film. Becoming sober is not the hard part. Staying sober is. Learning to live life sober is incredibly challenging.Meg Ryan gives a masterful performance in this. However, on re-viewing, I really appreciated the nuances of Andy Garcia's performance. Michael clearly finds meaning in helping and fixing all the problems around him. However, when Alice is sober and he finds he doesn't need to rescue her anymore, he is lost, angry, disappointed, and hurt. His speech at the Al Anon meeting when he admits that he feels pain seeing his wife doing so well without his help is powerful. The child actresses are great, particularly Tina Majorino. I wish they would have delved a bit more into how mom's alcoholism affected the kids. Also, Michael's speech at the very end is cringeworthy, sugarcoating what is otherwise an honest and very real portrayal of addiction and recovery.

Less than powerful film about the traumas a young family experiences when one of the adults becomes an alcoholic and goes through the very demanding de-toxication program.Meg Ryan expands her repertoire with a solid performance as alcoholic Alice Green, a young woman who knows that her addiction is tearing her family apart, as she feels helpless to do anything at all. Andy Garcia is not as convincing though, and just doesn't sit right as the leading man, a husband who, however concerned, can't seem to prevent his marriage from self destructing.Luis Mandoki does manage some strong emotional scenes as director especially when the family's two young daughters are involved, yet he is unable to create a consistent and moving drama with Ronald Bass and Al Franken's script. "When a Man Loves a Woman" has a weak beginning, and unfortunately tends to lapse back into the uninspired groove too often. A harsher, more realistic ending may also have helped.Certainly not a complete waste of time, but never constantly hard hitting or disturbing enough to have the desired effect. Also known in the U.S. as "Significant Other".PS I personally struggled with much of the enunciation throughout the movie and consequently missed several lines.Saturday August 13, 1994 - Greater Union Melbourne