Immediate Family (1989)

Mary Stuart Masterson, two years before her role in Fried Green Tomatoes, plays Lucy, a simple teenager who has a child with her young musician boyfriend. While pregnant she makes arrangements for the baby to be adopted by a family that can give it a good home. That family is Linda and Michael Spector, played by Glenn Close and James Woods, living on the west coast.As Lucy carries the child she becomes friends with the Spectors, and even visits their home before the baby is born, to the point of admiring the room they have decorated for the newborn. However, after the delivery she has second thoughts, the normal bond between a mother and her child, and simply leaves the hospital, with baby boy, and travels to Ohio and her dad's home. Later when it become clear to her that she and the young father cannot give their son a proper upbringing, she goes back to the Spectors and gives him to them. She leaves a letter to William (the boy) and in a voice-over as the movie is ending, we hear her tell him why she gave him up. The Spectors stay in touch and we see a photo she has of the boy about two years old, with a big shaggy dog.

This film is worth watching for Masterson's performance alone. This drama tells the story of a couple in their late thirties/very early forties who decide to adopt a child after unsuccessful attempts of having their own. The portrayal of the adoption process and its typically attendant series of frustrations appear quite realistic. Unfortunately, another reviewer for IMDb has already given the ending away. However, when Mary Stuart Masterson's character enters the couple's life, it is very touching, and you almost wish the couple would adopt her as well as her baby (I did, anyway). Watching Masterson's character walking around the baby room that the couple decorated is worth watching the entire film, as is the ending. Kevin Dillon delivers a very nice performance, as do, as always, Glenn Close and James Woods. Bring Kleenex.

I enjoyed this film because the characters showed how some adoptions go very smooth. Close and Woods portray Lucy and Michael, a couple that turn to this young boyfriend and girlfriend(Dillon and Masterson) for help; Masterson is pregnant and she first wants to give the child away.Lucy and Michael want to get closer to the young mother and invite her into the Spector household. Things go well, until Masterson has a change of heart,after the birth, and wants to keep the baby boy.She then realizes,towards the ending,that she has no experience and cannot fulfill motherly duties.Finally, she graciously gives the boy to the Spectors,knowing he will be well taken care of.This movie is sweet and you feel glad for the child, that a loving mother would sacrifice her desires, and offer him a better Future. As with a well known case in History, the "Baby M" scandal was a blemish to adoption agencies and received much notoriety in our Nation.Marybeth Whitehead was the surrogate mother and refused to give up the child. In that drawn out case, the girl even received two confusing names(then- married Whiteheads called her Sarah, while the Stern couple named her Melissa).In the ending of Immediate Family, Close,Woods,and Masterson show how adoptive and biological families can work out differences and still be happy. The Spectors send Lucy pictures and keep her involved with her child.

This movie was an excellent follow up for actress Glenn Close, after Fatal Attraction. It is a completely different direction, and showed her range as an actress. Lucy and Michael Spector, a upper middle class Seattle couple, have been married for ten years, and long to start a family. After several failed attempts, they opt for an open adoption. Mary Stuart Masterson plays the expecting teenage mother who contacts them through the ad they placed in a out of state newspaper. What follows is an acurate and touching portrayal of four people, (including the baby's father,) who's rollercoaster emotions manage to be both funny and heartbreaking at times. I thought this movie was fantastic, engrosing from start to finish, and a must see for any fan of the actors in it! Eight stars!