Purely Joyful Movie!

one of my absolute favorites!

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I rarely comment on shows I watch but for some strange reason I felt I had to. I think all of the actors and actresses did an awesome job ! It is not an action movie so if you're looking for that, you're out of luck. I enjoyed the story and each person cast seemed to fulfill their role brilliantly. Especially Viola Davis, wish they would have focused a little more on her issue and Hayden's we never really got closure . . . . Overall excellent, can't really say a bad thing about it.

On the one hand, it is good to see Lifetime showcasing more quality material. Several years ago, a movie such as "Custody" would have been a rarity on Lifetime. On the other hand, this movie tried to do too much in an hour and three-quarters. There wasn't enough time to deal with the personal issues, so the legal issues got skimmed over lightly. Reviewer Da Rude makes some good points (although rather incoherent, unfortunately). The United States film industry is so fragmented right now. Too many people making ill-considered decisions that affect the quality of the final product. If "Custody" was conceived as the multi-part project which it should have been, the various themes and story lines could have been given the treatment they should have had. As it is, they weren't. Reviewer Da Rude, a resident of London, seems to have problems with US movies. Too bad, but he's right about this: The US film industry is going through a lot of turmoil right now. It has happened before, and the results have always been stronger output in the end. As far as "Custody" is concerned, Lifetime needs to be encouraged to press forward with the quality material, most particularly with quality actors such as Viola Davis. Having first-rate actors such as Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Kalember and Tony Shalhoub doing smaller roles needs to be seen in a positive light for TV movies. (The broadcast networks gave up on them years ago; reality shows and a LOT of American football have, sadly, pushed them aside.) "Custody" must be evaluated for the good direction it is taking. We need more such efforts.

Director and writer James Lapine did a decent job with this screenplay. Sure this story has been done many times over, but having the wonderful and impactful Viola Davis in this film gave it that extra little boost it needed. Although the slow pacing could not be saved by Viola, the story in its entirety was pretty good. Would I see it again? No. Would I recommend it? Sure, if I know someone likes this type of film. It's a 7/10 from me.

Catalina Sandino Moreno of the Colombian movie "Maria Full of Grace" together with Viola Davis and Hayden Panettiere stars in this excellent Lifetime TV movie "Custody".It tells the story of a Hispanic woman at New York who is facing a Court Planning System or C.P.S. wherein she found herself fighting to regain her children back after she lost them. Sara Diaz just arrived home.When she found that her daughter Tia and son David weren't at home,she decided to look for them that led her fight angrily with David which caused her to her to accidentally hit her 10-year-old son on the face.When someone noticed that her son has a black eye on her face at school time,it was reported at the New York Court Planning System which led her kinds that were taken away from her custody temporarily.In the process,the hearing as been set to determine whether who should take custody of her children.Martha Schulman acts as the judge on the court while Ally Fisher takes the case of Sara pro bono.As the case is on going,it also takes us to the subplots of the stories of Martha and Ally with the former heading towards a divorce with her husband and the latter having lack of experience in court hearing as she just came from school recently as well as being part of the rich family who already experienced some form of child abuse from her uncle.The movie takes us on how the people involved and the challenges that they are currently facing from how would Martha handle the case being on a brink of a divorce,how Ally would defend a seemingly poor and Hispanic Sara when she apparently belong to a rich Caucasian family, and how Sara would handle the formalities and hearings on the court due to her lack of education and would want her kids every second of the day.This Lifetime TV movie was definitely not one's standard TV movie.First,we have a great collection of stories from the judge Martha,the lawyer Ally and of course the mother Sara.The stories maybe different but they all came together at the end as we get to see them all overcome the challenges and struggles they have faced off court.Second,we get to see great performances from Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere and especially Catalina Sandino Moreno,who definitely was interesting and engaging portraying Sara.Third,we also get to see how different the poor and the rich treat their kids as shown between that of Sara in comparison to that of the families of Martha and Ally.Finally,the viewer also would think about how Court Planning System with regards into doing its job of deciding to whose custody it places the kids.One may other be in favor or not in favor with it at all.Overall,it was an excellent TV movie.