I personally really like Barbra Streisand, and I think that this is a very good movie, even if not particularly for her own presence. The story is touchy and involving. The screenplay is well written and never exaggerated or out of track. Even the final cliché of the two main characters falling in love with each other is pretty well portrayed. Probably because it doesn't just happen during the final-five-minute-scene, but is developed enough to make it believable and not ridiculous. The soundtrack, by James Newton Howard, is lovely and really fulfills and underlines the whole movie. Technically, the finest work is done by the cinematography, which is warm and wrapping. The entire cast is good, especially Nick Nolte, who is very believable and delivers a great performance. Barbra Streisand is great behind the camera but only good in front of it. Playing the role of a rich, sophisticated, and independent woman she is kind of playing herself. Indeed, she is at her best when she doesn't have to deliver any line. Unarguably, because her charming presence by itself is enough to fill up the entire screen. She was probably too busy worrying about the way she looked than anything else. This probably wouldn't have happened if someone else were directing her. But then again, in that case we probably wouldn't have enjoyed her sweet and profound point of view.

Part I of My Critique -

I've read some of the comments here, but unfortunately, have never read the book. Firstly, it's easy to detect the Streisand haters among these "critics"....your hatred is truly sophomoric, and doesn't serve in your recounting an objective critique of the film.

As for this film itself, I think that Nick Nolte was absolutely the best element in it, as well as Kate Nelligan. I had never been a Nick Nolte fan, and was very surprised by his layered characterization. He did more with just a certain look, no words, than most actors can hope to accomplish reciting non-stop for two hours straight. In the simple shot of his looking at his daughter blow out her birthday candles and smiling when she's done, right after we are treated with a flashback of his horrid past, was enough to make me break. You could see him hiding some long-held, buried pain behind his genuine smile and love for his daughter. It was, for me, a very subtle, yet powerfully moving moment.

I think Streisand did a fine job directing this film, and was definitely robbed of a best director nomination. Several of the academy members who presented Oscars that evening, including Billy Crystal, Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, and Jessica Tandy (who REALLY made a point in a beautifully sarcastic delivery to mention how ridiculous it was that the film was nominated, but not the director. This almost NEVER happens, and it certainly happened that evening because there are so many academy members who despise Streisand.) Minnelli and MacLaine made a point of saying, before they read nominations for the particular award they were giving, that they would love to be directed by Streisand some day....more digs at the Academy. ANYWAY, beyond the snub, I thought the film overall was very poignant.

Where it falls short, however, are in the following areas. First, Streisand and/or the screenwriter (LaGraveness) shouldn't have focused really any time developing a love story between Streisand and Nolte. This was completely unnecessary. For this reason alone, I might not have even voted the film as one of the best of the year....I don't remember what else came out that year. My contention is that, if you're going to honor a film with the Oscar, you should also honor the director, since this film had Streisand's vision all over it. In fact, LaGraveness I believe was also a bit disgruntled with the many rewrites that Streisand made of his screenplay. More time should have been devoted to the horrific background story of Nolte's family, and of his sister. I understand that her character was actually schizophrenic for many years, probably triggered by her rape at 13, but that was not portrayed at all in the movie. Also, I thought Jason Gould did a fine job in his little part. However, I think it was disingenuous to even include that whole storyline in the movie. He was introduced in a slice of voice-over offered by Streisand's character when she talks to Nolte during a transitional scene when she invites Nick Nolte inside her apartment after he walks her home from Eddie's (George Carlin) party. She asks "why don't you come inside. I'd like you to meet my son." I know the plausibility we're supposed to accept is that, her son is a bit difficult and he's in football, and Nolte's character is a football coach who might be able to coach him privately....but I just didn't buy this whole plot line. It was an opportunity for Streisand to give her son a part in her film...that's it. He did all right in the part....I just didn't think this element was necessary. More showcasing for Streisand.

What else....the love story. I know that Tom Wingo (Nolte) is not her patient, so, romance between a doctor and his/her patient isn't an issue. And, it is plausible that she is pained as well, since her husband is having an affair, we later learn, with another woman. However, it would have been far more realistic and plausible if no romance came up, and no opening up on Streisand's part occurred at all. Or perhaps we might have been offered only a glimpse of her also troubled life, even though it's shielded behind the veneer of her being a successful psychiatrist. But to have her character let loose in a full-blown romance with Nolte's character was a plot line that took so much time away from what I really wanted to see, which was more of the background of the Wingo family, and particularly more of the sister herself....the raison d'etre of the film itself.

Part I Ends. See Part II for the rest of my critique.

Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte)'s marriage to Sally (Blythe Danner) is in trouble despite outward appearances. They have 3 daughters. His brother Luke is dead. His poet twin sister Savannah in NYC has attempted suicide once again and is under the care of therapist Susan Lowenstein (Barbara Streisand). He agrees to go see Lowenstein to help Savannah. She hires him to coach football to her angry son Bernard. Her husband Herbert (Jeroen Krabbé) is a philandering concert violinist. Tom's problem stems from his dysfunctional family with his abusive shrimper father Henry, mother Lila (Kate Nelligan), twin Savannah, older brother Luke and one terrible incident.

Nick Nolte is a powerful presence and Barbra Streisand is well-matched. I wouldn't call her directing great. It's solid. This is mostly about the acting. Krabbé is terrific in the dinner party. Jason Gould is limited. It's another instance where nepotism takes away from the cinematic experience. Kate Nelligan is a great actress but I can really sense her southern acting in this one. It's an effective romance melodrama and Nolte gives it his all.