Absolutely the worst movie.

A lot of fun.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blistering performances.

The film follows Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine), controlling, sometimes abrasive, mother to daughter Emma (Deborah Winger), as the two deal with Emma's deteriorating marriage (of which Aurora disapproves) to ineffectual and unfaithful husband Flap (Jeff Daniels) and Aurora's own relationship with her libidinous, bon-vivant neighbour, ex-astronaut Garret Breedlove (Jack Nicolson). The 'comedy' primarily comes from Aurora's reaction to Garret's ribald, teasing demeanor (and later bold courting style) and her constant belittling of Flap; the drama from the sudden, tragic turn the story takes in the 'third act'. This is a purely character-driven movie, so if you really dislike Aurora, Garret, Emma, or Flap (and they give you a variety of reasons to do so), you will probably dislike the movie. The film racked up the Oscars (winning five of 11 nominations, including four of the 'top five' awards). MacLaine and Nicolson are very good although you can tell that Nicolson's role was written for him (the character is not in Larry McMurtry's book), he plays the same sly, roguish character that made him a star. The critics (and the Academy) loved the film, but I don't find that star-driven 'relationship' films like "Terms of Endearment" age very well - I may have liked the film more if I had watched it when it was released and not 35 years afterwards.

That's what it will take to pick up on all the details.None of this drama would have happened if Aurora and Emna would have made smart decisions.Aurora was a narcissist and control freak, but she was right to tell Emma to choose a more stable man than Flap. However, if Emma had listened to her mom, Aurora wouldn't have ended up with 3 beautiful grandchildren.Emma was annoyed growing up with narcissistic, controlling Aurora and married the first man who looked at her twice. Then Emma proceeded to have more children than Flap was intetested in having. Emma took too long to notice that Flap was his own kind of narcissist who thought he could cheat on her with his young female college students (using his teaching job for "access"), while she slaved away carrying the heavy load with 3 kids at home. Finally catching Flap practically in the act, Emma moved back home with the kids to her mom's house in Houston. What Emma SHOULD have done was take advantage of her mother's wealth and get a college degree and find a WORTHY husband. Aurora certainly would have been happy to pay for Emma's college because Emma was her only child and Aurora was a wealthy widow and enjoyed having Emma living at home. There was no reason Emma had to leave home unprepared or marry an immature cheating jerk.Aurora also made bad decisions in men after her husband died. Sure, Jack Nicholson's character was sexy and exciting, but he was obviously a perpetual playboy who was never going to settle down. Aurora had multiple men interested in settling down with her. The tall fellow could have been a good choice. But Aurora didn't want stability apparently. I would have thought the astronaut probably had multiple STD's and was a narcissist who would talk about his glory days until he died. But Aurora made a play for the astronaut and demeaned and humiliated herself in the process several times. Her grandchildren would have benefitted more had Aurora made a stable choice in one of her many viable suitors other than the astronaut. But Aurora was selfish and immature. But I enjoyed Jack Nicholson's character in the movie and he definitely added a lot of excitement and humor.Maybe if Emma hadn't married Flap and put herself through the ringer moving every few years, and constantly worrying about who Flap was cheating on her with NOW, while she did all of the grunt work around the homestead with the children, she might not have gotten cancer. The children got short shrift in the movie being depicted as burdens. Emma was overburdened because Flap hardly helped even when he WAS home, and she was distracted wondering who Flap was porking, so she acted like the kids were secondary. Yet when Emma moved back home it seemed Aurora was finally going to give the children the adoration and attention they deserved. Maybe Emna was just too distracted by Flaps flops and their financial troubles to fully enjoy her children. She could have considered working and having fewer children to balance out their finances, but Flap would have continued cheating anyway - he just would have been able to buy nicer clothes and drive a nicer car WHILE he cheated. The one who really had it good was Aurora, who was gorgeous, smart and classy, married well so that when her husband unexpectedly passed she lived comfortably, had a maid and a cook, made wise decisions with her money, didn't have any expensive vices, had plenty of worthwhile suitors, and her daughter became a baby factory producing multiple grandchildren for her to enjoy and their father, Flap, had no interest in remaining in their lives in a big way so that Aurora could have custody of them. Of course Flap was relieved when Emma passed because then he could hit all that young stuff at his teaching job without looking over his shoulder (plus maybe he could finally go after Emma's BFF, at least for one night - which is about as far ahead as Flap was ever able to think). The dumb thing Aurora did was waste one minute trying to get serious with the astronaut. In the end, he finally came through for Aurora, but it took a long time and can a leopard really change its spots? She will always have to be checking his sports car for foreign panties, and what will Garrett do when Aurora really starts aging and losing her looks and when the hrandchildren get older and really need hands on help with big issues? Will Garrett stick around? And do Aurora and Garrett ever actually marry? Does he make a tangible commitment to her, or can he sell his house and move on at any given moment? What are the grandkids going to think of Aurora when they realize she isn't married to Garrett and that "Grandpa Garrett" is just a horny neighbor and has-been astronaut with a drinking problem?If only Emma had stayed at home with her mom and gone to college, married better, and Aurora had married a stable suitor. Emma might not have contracted cancer, may have had kids with an honorable man, and Aurora could have a stable home for those grandkids to come visit and Emma may have been able to live nearby in Houston with her husband and kids.I think the moral of the story is that bad choices in men damage lives and peripheral lives..

Some of the people that give this 1 or 2 stars are just ridiculous. The acting is great, the story is great and there are plenty of moments that makes this movie nowhere near a 1-2 star.Don't take those ridiculous reviews serious. Some of the same people that have this at 1 star has Anchorman at 10 stars. Go figure.

(Originally reviewed: 20/03/2017) A Picture that switches between two separate stories after the first half hour or so, and one is excellent, the other merely good, but one thing is for sure, this is a very well made film with sincerity, craft and compassion; the film packs a lot of powerfully emotional sequences and the sentimentality is very rare. Jack Nicholson is a great actor, and here is yet another great performance from him playing Garrett Breedlove, a former Astronaut , though he is a supporting character here, he still shines as much as he did in films like The Shining and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, if not exceeding them, which would be almost impossible to do, though there is a great moment here where Nicholson shouts "Fly me to the Moon" in a hilarious sequence that literally sends him flying, a scene that is extremely memorable.The two mains are played by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger, rather terrifically I might add, MacLaine play's Aurora, the mother and Debra Winger play's her daughter, Emma, and both of them have striking personality and demonstrate a strong screen presence, whenever a scene requires it, which is one of many reasons I enjoyed this picture, the actors are just superb and there character's seem extremely genuine, The Mother is always correcting and lecturing her daughter, keeping a straight manner, and the daughter is always trying to prove that she's doing the right thing, and that she can look after children and make her own life with her new husband, it's not stereotypical, it's realistic and it seems as if you could walk past the very street where they are and see them talking with each other, and I expect these picture's that are non-fantasy to be realistic in some way, and this one most definitely succeeds. The picture is adequately shot, there's plenty of memorable lines, and good writing, that includes some real sharp dialogue like "Imagine you having a date with somebody, where it wasn't a felony" which was a line in a real engaging conversation between MacLaine and Nicholson, this was one of many good lines uttered by MacLaine, and Nicholson and Debra Winger have an equal amount of strong lines here. The cast are all very good; Jeff Daniels play's Flap, Emma's husband, and this is perhaps the strongest I've seen him outside of comedy, and John Lithgow as Sam Burns, who defends Emma in a supermarket from a rude check-out girl, this was his best moment in the picture, and he's also good, playing a neighbourly sort of friend to Emma. Other solid performances, to name a few, include Danny DeVito as Vernon Dalhart, a friend of Aurora's and Lisa Hart Carroll as Patsy Clark, Emma's lifelong best friend. The story has two part's to it, one is focused on an unexpected relationship of sorts between Aurora and Garrett, whereas the other is about Emma and her kids and how they are going through life, including a possible cheating husband who lacks energy when at home, now the part with Nicholson and MacLaine is engaging, extremely funny, occasionally sweet and very entertaining, whereas the other part of the story between Debra Winger and her kids, falters at times, feeling less compelling than the latter, which isn't a big problem, because it's still a good story overall.The outcome in the end isn't a cheerful one, it's rather sad, but I felt involved, emotionally invested and sad about it myself and this picture never goes for clichés, it's believable, well-crafted and only occasionally manipulative, and the very end is satisfying because the story end's with hope that despite the heart-breaking tragedy, things can get better, and the character's pull together, helping one another come to terms with their emotions over the incident and end the film not with complete despair, but with some form of hope, which sat rather well with me, and I personally think this is a very good film, that despite a change of tone before the very end, possesses a good sense of humour, humanity, excellent performances and a director that knows how to make a quality film; James L. Brooks, well done.