the leading man is my tpye

Excellent but underrated film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Absolutely conventional, boring, predictable Hollywood schmaltz! Another soul-numbing movie written from a standard chick-flick template. I only watched it through to the end to see if I predicted the ending. I did. It completely caters to the lazy, obtuse film goer that doesn't care to be challenged in any way. That is to say, most of today's film watcher. This movie's been made thousands of times before, and will be made many times again.

There is some excellent acting and very realistic dialog from this interesting and involving movie about mothers and daughters and adoption. The dividing lines between race and blood ties are explored here. This is an intense and human drama.Annette Benning delivers a great performance. She really got a bitter caustic expression perfectly. It is interesting to see the lovely Naomi Watts playing a damaged character.After all the depressing things earlier I wish Naomi's character had lived and there could have been a reunion between mother and daughter.Overall worth a watch for the great performances but feels a bit sad.

In Los Angeles, the therapist Karen (Annette Bening) is a bitter woman that nurses her terminal mother Nora with the support of her maid Tracy (Carla Gallo) that has a little daughter. Karen misses her unknown daughter that she gave for adoption thirty-seven years ago when she was fourteen years old. Her new colleague Paco (Jimmy Smits), who is a widower, is a gentle man and courts the unpleasant Karen.The bakery owner Lucy (Kerry Washington) wishes desperately to adopt a child since she can not have a baby but her husband Joseph (David Ramsey) is not supportive to the idea.The efficient lawyer Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), who is Karen's daughter, is an independent and promiscuous woman that does not want to have a baby and has tubal ligation. When she joins the law firm of Paul (Samuel Jackson), she has a love affair with him and becomes his mistress.When Nora passes away, she feels a great need to know Elizabeth. She marries Paco and his daughter Maria, who is a religious woman, convinces her to seek out Elizabeth. When Lucy meets the single mother Ray (Shareeka Epps), who is a demanding woman, Joseph leaves her since he does not want to raise a foster child. When Elizabeth finds that she is pregnant, she quits her job in Paul's firm and works as secretary in a small company. Their lives will be entwined in very dramatic situations."Mother and Child" is a powerful drama about different views and feelings about motherhood. The therapist Karen has never overcome the loss of her daughter for adoption. The infertile baker Lucy wants to be a mother and her desire costs her marriage. The lawyer Elizabeth is traumatized by her childhood and is an independent woman that does not want to have a baby and ironically gets pregnant. In the end, there is redemption with the second chance for Karen. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Destinos Ligados" ("Connected Destinies")

***Alert: May allude to some scenes and themes that could contain what some might deem "spoilers."***As someone else said: "Wow, where do I start?" ... I LOVED this movie. I was not familiar with the director's previous work, but he is definitely on my radar now. The cast was incredible. What a fantastic mix of people. I mean, come on, Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Elizabeth Peña, and Jimmy Smits. And those are just the "big" stars. The rest of the cast was equally outstanding. One standout performance was given by the beautiful Kerry Washington. So incredibly powerful.But, what really blew me away about this film was the authenticity of the many themes about life, love, family, children, parenthood, hope, loss and redemption that the director wove together so brilliantly. The screenplay resonated with me on so many levels. The dialogue rang true on so many levels. I'm sorry to say I don't know her name, but the actress who portrayed Washington's mother was incredible, too. The monologue she delivered during the scene where her daughter is struggling with new motherhood is golden. She delivered her lines with the authenticity of a woman who has lived a full and rich life. Just dynamite. I can't say more. Loved her!The funny story is that I had already watched this movie on cable alone, but re- ordered it through Netflix to see if my husband might be interested in watching it. I was worried he'd dismiss it as a "chick flick," (such a sexist term, BTW), but he became instantly absorbed in the story, and wound up loving it, too. He was haunted for days, remembering Watts' performance and the destiny of her character.Someone here gave the film a low rating because she didn't like the characters. She found the women, particularly, unlovable, and without redemption. But that's just one of the many themes that makes this film so outstanding. People are not perfect. We fall in love with each other, despite our shortcomings, thankfully. I thought the script, performances and direction were all very subtle in conveying these complex and multitextured human realities.Just beautiful.