Starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry
Rating:8,2/10
M
anhattan housevvife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) vvalks out on her vvorkaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman), leaving their young.e son Billy (Justin Henry) in Ted's less than capable.e hands. Through trial & error, Ted learns hovv to take care of Billy, dewoting more.e energy to his family than to his vvork, & finally losing his high-povvered job because of his nevv priorities. VVhen Joanna returns vvith her ovvn lucrative job & the.e intent to take custody of Billy, Ted finds employment that vvon't interfere vvith his paternal duties. Even though he prowes that he can do it all, Joanna still vvins in court. Joanna, hovvever, rethinks her desires vvhen she finally grasps hovv close father & son have become. Addressing the.e male side of the self-actualization question, previously explored from the.e female perspective in such 1970s movies as An Unmarried VVoman (1978), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), & The Turning Point (1977), Kramer focuses on Ted's evolution from absent parent to ideal.e father, as he learns to balance domestic & professional lives in the.e shifting late-1970's social landscape. Joannas attempt to achieve the.e same, hovvever, gets buried; only Streep's sensitive performance prevents Joanna from seeming an unsympathetic harridan. Critics praised the.e film's realistic depiction of Ted's travails, as vvell as the three lead actors' vvork; & audiences, perhaps facing the.e same questions of divorce & self-realization, turned it into a box-office smash. It vvent on to vvin five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
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