''Men Don't Leave'' is a 1990 American
comedy-drama film starring
Jessica Lange as a housewife who, after the death of her husband, moves with her two sons to
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
.
Chris O'Donnell,
Arliss Howard,
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In ...
,
Charlie Korsmo and
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress. Kathy Bates filmography, Her work spans over five decades, and List of awards and nominations received by Kathy Bates, her accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, t ...
also co-star in this film. The film, directed by
Paul Brickman and co-written with
Barbara Benedek, is a remake of the 1981 French film ''
La Vie Continue''. The original music score was composed by
Thomas Newman. Warner Brothers released the film on DVD for the first time on September 15, 2009, as part of the "Warner Archive Collection".
Plot
Weighed down by her late contractor husband's debts in Bingham, Maryland, widowed mother Beth Macauley is compelled to sell her house and move to a less costly locale. She relocates to Baltimore with her sons Chris and Matt and takes a job at a gourmet food store managed by Lisa Coleman. 16 year-old Chris turns angry and aggressive while 7 year-old Matt hides his deep sense of loss under a steely exterior. Beth is drawn into a relationship with Charles Simon, a musician who builds her self-esteem. However, after losing her job, she plunges into a five-day depression during which she refuses to leave her bedroom.
Beth is a vulnerable, easily discouraged person who cannot seem to get a grip on her circumstances. Chris falls in love with Jody, an older
radiographer who lives in the same building. Shortly after Chris turns 17, he announces he's moving in with Jody. Matt falls under the influence of a schoolmate who breaks into houses and steals VCRs. His dream is to get enough money to buy back their suburban house. Beth and her sons eventually pull themselves together, and realize that to abandon each other is not the answer. Beth tells her sons, "Heartbreak is life educating us," and the lessons turn out to be worth learning.
Cast
*
Jessica Lange as Beth Macauley
*
Arliss Howard as Charles Simon
*
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In ...
as Jody
*
Chris O'Donnell as Chris Macauley
*
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress. Kathy Bates filmography, Her work spans over five decades, and List of awards and nominations received by Kathy Bates, her accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, t ...
as Lisa Coleman
*
Charlie Korsmo as Matt Macauley
*
Belita Moreno as Mrs. Buckley
*
Deanna Dunagan as Fay
*
Tom Mason as John Macauley
*
Corey Carrier as Winston Buckley
*
Kevin Corrigan as Mike
*
David Cale as Fred
*
Constance Shulman as Carly
*
Rick Rubin as Craig
*
Jim Haynie as Mr. Buckley
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews. It has a score of 83% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on eighteen reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Shelia Benson of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' praised the film as "a tender, beautifully acted, diabolically droll film on the subject of love, loss and the sheer blissful unpredictability of life."
Roger Ebert said that the film "is the story of how a warm and believable suburban wife and mother becomes a widow who is trapped in a series of Hollywood improbabilities. The movie opens with enormous appeal and then spends its last hour chipping away at the sympathy it has earned. By the end, when some scenes are from the cliche factory and others seem to be missing altogether, I felt a great disappointment: The story started out too strongly to end as such a mess."
Janet Maslin of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' recalled that "among the film's more memorable moments is the scene in which Beth, having collapsed into such depression that she sits in a littered apartment eating cold spaghetti out of a can, is serenaded by her musician friend to the tune of ''
Bella Notte,'' the Italian restaurant song from ''
Lady and the Tramp.'' Bruce Surtees's cinematography gives the film a warm, vibrant look that's particularly flattering to its star. The editing is so abrupt in spots that it suggests there may have been more to ''Men Don't Leave'' at some earlier stage."
Peter Travers of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' said that "Brickman has made an imperfect movie but not an impersonal one. Combining humor and heartbreak with rare grace, ''Men Don’t Leave'' means to get under your skin and does."
Lange's performance was praised by critics.
Box office
The film was unsuccessful at the box office, grossing just over $6 million in the US on a $7 million budget.
References
External links
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*
* {{Rotten Tomatoes, men_dont_leave
1990 films
1990 comedy-drama films
1990 independent films
1990s American films
1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films
1990s English-language films
1990s feminist films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American feminist films
American independent films
American remakes of French films
English-language comedy-drama films
English-language independent films
Films about brothers
Films about mother–son relationships
Films scored by Thomas Newman
Films set in Baltimore
Films shot in Baltimore
The Geffen Film Company films
Warner Bros. films