Please don't spend money on this.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I was surprised about how much I liked this movie. I didn't want to watch it initially, but I'm glad I did. The acting was excellent (even by Adam Sandler) and it presented a variety of conflicting emotions. I'm impressed.

Spoiler Alert!This movie attempts to dupe the audience into vilifying the wife and making the husband the complete victim, and sadly, it appears like it may do so to some.This is a movie that fails to explain the motivations of some of the characters or to give them much depth. I am particularly disappointed with the portrayal taken of the wife, Tea Leoni.This woman is a clearly strained, unhappy, and insecure person whose positive qualities are deliberately ignored in favor of focus upon some questionable behaviors that amount to mistakes many parents happen to make.Granted, she is unfair and unethical for cheating on her husband who clearly makes some effort to include her. He isn't the flawless nice guy that the director may have attempted to create. He is, also, easily seduced by another woman, the housekeeper, although he doesn't physically cheat. Rather than trying to help the wife with her episodes of stress and misery, he just dismisses her with counterproductive humor and an attempt to ignore her concerns. Even if her concerns aren't particularly valid, they should be confronted honestly, and the issues should be resolved for the sake of the family and the relationship that was building.The movie never reveals why the lady cheats, why she is frequently stressed or upset, or why her history with her husband placed them at a disconnect. Also, most films portray couples when they are happy and bonding in a carefree way, but it appears that when the film shows the sadness, anger, and stress that may overcome many women in a marriage, then the director and viewers attempt to vilify her as a flawed woman who "may lose her husband", "whose low self-esteem is good common sense," and who "will never find anyone as good." That's a ridiculous way of trying to address the problems that a character has. Again, people aren't always going to be 100 percent pleasant, so if they have issues with stress and crying episodes, they should probably work to resolve those without having their character attacked.Honestly, I have never seen a movie that tries to portray a woman's emotional issues in such a vilifying light. Usually, a human being with some emotional outbursts becomes a sympathetic character. This movie reveals how easily women are condemned for simply expressing unpleasant emotions and ever appearing like anything other than the perfectly functional wife.Granted, I am not suggesting that Leoni didn't portray a woman who was out of touch with the family. I agree that Leoni's character should have spent more time with her husband and family and tried to better connect with her daughter. However, it's, also, understandable that she was acting according to a particular parenting philosophy.I don't see a narcissistic, self-centered, horrible woman; I see a struggling, strained, often unpleasant, disconnected wife who needs to build some understanding with her husband and children. She might simply just be incompatible with her husband. Sometimes, people are incompatible, and it's no one's fault. I hate the fact that Debra, played by Leoni, was confronted by a mother who suggested that this was the best man that she would ever get and encouraged her to have low self-esteem. Low self-esteem won't help the lady reconnect with her husband and family. Clearly, this woman was struggling and, therefore, hired a housekeeper to help. She may have insulted her own daughter, meddled excessively with the housekeeper's child, and made some disrespectful decisions, but your average person makes just as many social gaffs. She was trying to help her kids in her own way; they had fairly comfortable lives and weren't physically or verbally abused, even if their mother managed to offend them. She was paying the housekeeper 650 a week just to clean, so if she made some mistakes, then we can forgive her for being a bit out of touch.Both women and men can have some weaknesses; that's the beautiful part of being human if you don't want a Stepford wife. The director may have tried to create a villain, but for those of us who aren't easily swept up by a few examples of questionable behavior and mistakes, we are left wanting to understand more about the motivations and deeper traits of the characters.

It really amazes me how unbelievably people miss the point behind movies. It also amazes me how someone can watch a well written movie and somehow not realize it. The stories this movie tells are life. The cheating wife and the husband who is being driven crazy but her ridiculous behavior. The parents who cannot agree on the proper way to raise their children. The good hearted person who has life happen to him instead of taking it by the horns. The mother who loves her daughter so much she lives her own life for her. She tries to protect her from everything including being spoiled and this changing her personality into something she doesn't approve of. The characters are well done and each serves their roles very well. The casting of Sandler was interesting but like others have said I was pleasantly surprised with his acting. He wasn't the typical goofy Adam Sandler. Not a goofy funny movie but a well written story that has moments of fun but is mostly just subtle humor well done by the actors.

This movie was, is, and will forever be awful, truly and thoroughly awful. It did not start well from what I can recall (saw it in the cinemas upon initial release) and I would hazard a guess that it did not end well either.There was no interest generated in the opening of the film, which eventually led to my exiting of the cinema prior to the end of the film's running. Loss of 5 points (total = 5 so far).I cannot comment on plot because a) none was developed in the beginning of the film, and b) I left after the first thirty minutes or so. Loss of 2 points (total = 3 so far)The characters were wooden to say the least. Adam Sandler plays his goofy old self as per usual, but it is hardly what I call acting. Loss of 2 points (total = 1 so far).Hence my rating of 1/10. A pathetic film that should not be watched. Avoid, avoid, avoid.