The Deep End Of The Ocean Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
The search for her son was over. The search for her family was just beginning.
The Deep End of The Ocean is a film about a family's reaction when Ben, the youngest son is kidnapped and then found ten years later, living in the same town.
| Michelle Pfeiffer | Beth Cappadora |
| Treat Williams | Pat Cappadora |
| Whoopi Goldberg | Candy Bliss |
| Jonathan Jackson | Vincent Cappadora - Age 16 |
| Cory Buck | Vincent Cappadora - Age 7 |
| Ryan Merriman | Sam Karras/Ben Cappadora - Age 12 |
| Alexa Vega | Kerry Cappadora |
| Michael McGrady | Jimmy Daugherty |
| Brenda Strong | Ellen |
| Michael McElroy | Ben Cappadora - Age 3 |
| Tony Musante | Grandpa Angelo |
| Rose Gregorio | Grandma Rosie |
| John Kapelos | George Karras |
| Lucinda Jenney | Laurie |
| John Roselius | Chief Bastokovich |
| Ulu Grosbard |
5.80 out of 10 (3979 votes)
Visitor Reviews
CHARACTER FLAWS FLAW FILM
posted on 21 Aug 2009Michelle Pfeiffer fails to convince me of her grief at losing her son to a kidnapper. She seems guilty about losing sight of him momentarily and for letting him get lost. Her guilt overtakes everything, and she is not a very devoted mother to her other two children. You can see that they are suffering from her neglect and total self-absorption. I felt that the movie was supposed to have been very compelling on an emotional, almost primal, level, but it was not compelling at all. I imagine that the book did a better job of conveying the terror of losing your child and realizing that your child may be gone forever. The people in the film all seemed to be too obsessed with themselves. Naturally this kind of tragedy will cause introspection and times of real doubt and soul searching, but I did not get the sense that the people here had any level of depth or sincerity.
WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC?
posted on 28 Jul 2009I saw this movie about 3 times and each time I found things that I missed in previous viewings. I have also read the other reviews of this movie and surfed the websites for this movie, but no one mentioned the beautiful piece of music at the end of the movie as the credits were displayed. What was that piece and who composed it? Music has an important part to play in any movie and the music for this movie has been thus far ignored by everyone connected with this movie.
A realistic melodrama?
posted on 23 Jul 2009This is a true oxymoron,because a melodrama cannot be,by definition,realist or plausible;that's the rule of the game ,and Stahl and mainly Sirk always played fair game in the thirties and in the fifties.Charles Jarrot did exactly the same in the seventies with "the other side of midnight".Their directing was often mad(see the funeral in "imitation of life" (1959)or the execution in "the other side..."(1977) "The end of the ocean" is a tear-jerker,which has got its share of "moving " situations,but it looks like a made-for-TV "true story" -which it obviously isn't.THe movie is full of improbabilities :what a coincidence,the child ,nine years later,happens to live almost next door!And it takes Michelle Pfeiffer hardly one look to recognize her beloved offspring!And she's a photographer,she can make a picture "older",and policewoman Goldberg is here with the footprints.Best performance is given by the adoptive father who has a very dignified air.his acting is very introspective and contrasts with Pfeiffer and williams ones.The short scene in which he brings the boy's school report is very sensitive.
'A' for effort
posted on 12 May 2009The worst type of movie is not some comically unsound, poorly acted, low-budget B movie. Rather it's a major studio drama that tries too hard to be emotional, thought provoking, and earnest all at once. Based on an excellent novel, the movie does not do the book justice.I can imagine Michelle Pfeiffer as she read the novel: falling in love with it, imagining herself in the title role. It's a shame that what little of the novel translated to the screenplay became such an ambiguous and boring movie. It is quite painful to witness mediocre actors like Treat Williams and Ms. Pfeiffer try their damnedest to look traumatized and devastated by the events of the story, when the result is comparable to a 7th Grade acting class. (i.e. Pfeiffer's reaction to seeing Ben's picture in the hotel lobby)After the troubling events that transpire in the movie (which are terminally frustrating) and the ...GASP... sudden unexpected (and improbable) plot twists. You're left to wonder so... What next?The characters, particularly their son, Vincent, are downright annoying.
And in possibly the worst casting in history: Whoopi Goldberg as Candy Bliss, a gay, black police detective supervisor (which, inappropriately, has nothing to do with the movie, she literally just blurts it out).The conclusion is only worse as the viewer is left wondering...Well now what? A fitting end to a poor excuse for a movie.
Really touches your heart
posted on 23 Mar 2009I saw this movie on HBO a few years ago, and even though I saw it only from the time when Sam comes back, I found it to be a wonderful movie. I recently watched this movie again, and I found that the movie was just as great on the second view. That's because the movie is not about the story, but about human emotions, which don't depend on a plot. This does not mean that there is no story or plot here. Indeed the story is something anyone can identify with... Losing someone you love... and finding them all over again.The director does not use cheap dramatics or hysterics to make you feel the loss that the family, especially the mother goes through. There are scenes in the movie where I was moved to tears. Not to suggest that this is a tear-jerker. On the contrary, it has some really uplifting moments to it.I rate this a solid 10/10. Watch this movie! You won't regret it.
excellent performances by all
posted on 22 Mar 2009Ok, I rented this because I figured my girlfriend would like it, but so did I. Michelle Pfeiffer is her most riveting. I normally don't like Treat Williams, but I found his character very beleivable here. Also the young man who played Vincent (17 yr. old) will do well to keep acting, he has a road ahead of him. I know it sounds like a movie-of-the-week plot, but it is quite effective. The DVD itself has a short (5 min) featurette, that is about as enlightening as it sounds.
Predictible, but cute
posted on 03 Mar 2009This movie was so predictable. It wasn't bad a tall though.I used to hate Jonathan Jackson and I didn't like the fact that he was in this movie. But, when I saw it HE WAS SO CUTE!! Vincent Capadorra was too ( lol of course) The plot was sorta predictable but a good movie. 9/10 for the movie and 10/10 for Jonathan!
slow plot but great acting
posted on 13 Feb 2009i have to admit that i thought this movie was boring at the beginning. but as the film rolled along, it turned out better than i expected. the acting was really good, especially from michelle pfeiffer and jonathan jackson. i would recommend this film for mothers, and it's also good for people who have gone through the same thing.
The Reader's Digest Condensed Version
posted on 10 Jan 2009I saw this movie on a plane in the middle of the night--not ideal viewing conditions--and found it acceptable airplane fare to while away long hours, but nothing remarkable. I'd read the book earlier, so was curious to see how it might be handled as a film. Well...They followed the book pretty closely, but it's a 400+ page novel. Rather than redevelop the ideas in the story for the tighter format required by the screen, they tried to keep in all the various plot elements and cut out the detail needed to preserve the story's integrity. What a pity.The question of what happens to a family who loses a child to some unknown person/event is an interesting one worthy of exploration. The twist of having that child found again nine years later opens another can of worms. The book manages to develop the characters of the whole family better than the film, which concentrates on Beth and Sam, but both result in a "too perfect" ending that doesn't really satisfy.I suspect that the film has a fairly strong appeal for the mature (50+) female audience...but they don't seem to be such keen movie goers. It might do well on TV...
Great Performance by Michelle!
posted on 04 Jan 2009I have always loved Michelle Pfeiffer and find her to show much depth in all her roles. This did not disappoint. She was heartbreaking as the mother who has to deal with the pain of losing her son. Unfortunately, her performance was better than the movie which was too TV movie of the week. The ending just seemed strange. Without giving away the ending, It would have made sense for the boy to keep relationships with both families. More scenes were needed to support the eventual conclusion which was just too pat. Whoopi Goldberg was wasted in a small role as a detective. And what was the purpose of making her character gay? Overall though, I would recommend the film but I would more highly recommend a similar film from a few years back called "Losing Isiah".
a quality picture.
posted on 29 Dec 2008MANY SPOILERS THROUGHOUT POST: This is one time I have to disagree with the majority. I thought Deep End of the ocean was a really good movie. I'm surprised so many don't like it. I found it to be a mature, thought provoking and disturbing drama with excellent performances all around from everybody. The cast actually, were not just good but superb. The movie was not overly long and in the time it ran, I was able to really get a good grasp on all the characters and thought the character development was actually excellent. I was really surprised by the low rating.Many have mentioned how the movie glossed over a lot. I can understand that but the movie wasn't all that long-it didn't really have time to go into everything. And also, I rather liked that the movie stayed fast paced and engrossing without lingering to long on just one thing. A lot of what the characters were feeling were picked up in the various scenes and the story was simply to complicated to go into everything-otherwise it probably would have been about eight hours. Though I really could see this having been a mini series....I think, in a way, Deep End was boxed a little into a corner, if it had gotten to much heavier it may have been labeled manipulative. As it is, the ending was considered to "Hollywood." I actually thought the way it ended was the best possible ending a story such as this could have had. And it was believable to, though throughout the whole thing, I was thinking "joint custody". Although that wasn't exactly the way it was done it was close enough, and I found it a great ending to a very good movie.One other thing I liked was the fact that the story didn't go into never ending tragedy land. By that I mean, none of the main characters are critically injured, , no divorces and custody fights etc etc.... the focus was kept on the individuals and how they dealt with this situation, rather then introducing as many bad things as possible. This played very well as it was a tearjerker in one sense, but also was really thought provoking, and much empathy could be felt for almost everybody from Sam to the natural parents to the adoptive father to the natural brother and sister. All were complex and interesting characters.I'd give this an 8 of 10, I really thought it was very well done and wish it had a somewhat higher rating on here.
Strong performances shine in this good family relations drama
posted on 17 Dec 2008I never heard of a Jacquelyn Mitchard's book on which the movie is based but somehow something about Deep End of the Ocean has attracted my attention. After long searches last week I watched this movie on DVD and I have to say that I liked it, though maybe I liked in a different way than other movies. Although I don't rank this movie among my favorites I think Deep End of The Ocean is worthy of your attention and it definitely has its moments. The story begins when we have a look at life of Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) a strong woman, who has an average, relatively successful and happy American family with three kids, but soon their life is falling apart because of an inexplicable disappearance of the youngest of their sons, three year old Ben (the other son, Vincent is seven). Everyone is blaming himself for such terrible loss and getting lost in their own feelings and emotions. While her husband Pat (Treat Williams) is trying to bring his family life back on normal tracks, Beth from the first look is suffered the most and using words of one of the characters she is "making career of being unhappy". After nine years of imitating a normal life they move into another city and one day they meet a boy, who lives in a neighborhood. Immediately they realize that he is their son, who they have lost many years ago but after such wondrous discovery the question is what will be a family's reaction as well what will be a reaction of a boy who doesn't remember anything about his real parents and family. So it's easy to notice that the movie consists of two parts, when first smoothly passes into second. The story is relatively good developed and is rather sad at parts, although I believe that overall Deep End of the Ocean is not enough emotional as a movie with such subject is supposed to be. I liked characters development in the movie except Michelle Pfeiffer's character Beth, which in my opinion is overly contradictory and complicated. Somehow such characters are common for Michelle and she is mainly coping with her part. Her husband, Pat, who is trying to restore lost connections looks much more convincing and Treat Williams's performance really impressed me. Finally, characters of two brothers, Vincent and Sam and relations between them are one of the strongest parts of the movie. Both Jonathan Jackson and Ryan Merriman are excellent at their characters and I have to say that I particularly liked the ending of the movie. Obviously some people could find this ending sappy and made for TV but I would certainly disagree with such an approach. Even if it was a little rushed the ending is very satisfying and contains the best (and the most memorable) scenes in the whole movie. This ending made me for some time forgot about any criticism I should notice some minor faults besides already mentioned in my review, which fortunately are unable to make an influence to my overwhelmingly positive impression of Deep End of The Ocean. Although, Ulu Grossbard's direction is mostly decent, some scenes are not so carefully made as most parts of the movie while some other parts (fortunately not many and not in the crucial points) as well as some dialogs are not free from using rather formulaic clichés. But I want to say once again that despite these minor notes of criticism (remember that nothing is perfect) I think Deep End of The Ocean is a pretty good movie, which deserves not to be missed. My grade 8 out of 10
Shallow and Emotionless. ** out of ****
posted on 11 Dec 2008Ulu Grosbard's "The Deep End of the Ocean" should have been called "The Shallow End of the Ocean" simply because the film has such a fordable aspect of its situation and ideas that it is almost if the filmmakers thought they were too good to turn themselves into making a tear-jerker. And tears are something we don't even think about while watching this movie, and it is supposed to be a tear jerker.The movie's plot is handled with great UN-certainty and mis-direction. Even the closing scene is week because of awkwardness. The plot itself is strong and solid, and knows exactly how it wants to present itself of screen. That is the problem. The search for the lost boy is greatly detailed, but even more so than the return? And the discovery, which should have been reacted to with immense surprise, is somehow, not overly startling.There are so very many pointless distractions and plot clinches in the movie as well. Lets take the Whoopi Goldberg character for instance. In one particular scene, she reveals a secret, for no apparent reason other than to throw in a simple audience pleaser. That is so un-necessary, so needles, so insane that I laughed out loud.The performances in "The Deep End of the Ocean" were quite the treat indeed. Pfeiffer, who hasn't made a movie is some several years, comes back with a drop dead stunningly great achievement. Her confusion is involving and her reactions are to die for. Treat Williams is very good in his role, but sometimes a bit over the top and too aggressive. Goldberg delivers minor momentum in her first appearance, but could have easily been replaced with a newcomer and presented just as well. John Kapelos, as the foster father, is handled gently and seems to conquer his role with ease. Just too bad the script didn't provide these across with enticing dialog and juicy roles. As a matter of fact, the whole movie seems slow and dry.It is unfortunate that the film misses the emotional side of the story completely. There could have been some inspiring material from the foster parent's point of view, but there isn't . Director Grosbard threw in as many characters' feeling as possible, but none of them really hit the spot, kind of like the recent "Stepmom," which suffered from the exact some imperfections. "Stepmom" was tear resistant because of a jumpy-paced screenplay, with effort involved. "The Deep End of the Ocean" didn't even try for tears.
See this, Great movie!
posted on 15 Nov 2008Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastating guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, the family has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Williams) seems to expect everything to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-honky movie in the vein of Ordinary People.
good film ...
posted on 11 Nov 2008... though some of it I felt was a bit rushed. The book went more into detail, but I understand the movie had to be edited down, so some of the crucial things were not included in this movie. The performances were excellent by the whole cast, especially Jonathan Jackson, who is awesome in everything he does. I recommend that people should read the book first...therefore, you'll understand the film a little more better. But either way you do it (see the movie, then read the book, etc...), you'll get it.
Slow Moving but Good
posted on 04 Nov 2008Surprisingly good film despite some of the reviews it got. Michelle Pfeiffer plays distraught mother Bethy Cappadora whose three year old son Ben goes missing during her High School reunion. If you are looking for an exciting film with lots of action then don't watch this. "The Deep End of the Ocean" is an intelligent film about a family coming to terms with the loss of their child and then his miraculous recovery nine years later. Pfeiffer is excellent in her role as mother and photographer who must come to terms with her guilt of turning her back for just a moment and loosing sight of her small son. Treat Williams gives a credible performance as her bewildered husband and Jonathan Jackson who plays Vincent, the Cappadora's oldest son at 16, is quietly believeable as a boy with a troubled conscience. Add to this the talents of Whoopi Goldberg as a gay black Police Woman assigned to the case and you have a solid film that is both compelling and watchable. I enjoyed "Deep End of the Ocean" because of its intelligence and the compassionate way it treated a very sensitive subject. Not a tear jerker per se but it will give you a lump in your throat at times. Well worth watching if you want something that won't fighten you to death or leave you with heart palpitations.
Very good picture
posted on 26 Oct 2008I thought I would be totally bored with this film, but by the end, I enjoyed it, and was touched by the themes presented to us.Sure, there are problems, the screenplay was not strong in the middle act, but the story kept me interested and I could see the potential - it could've an amazing piece of work if the script was stronger.The film's plot may feature a big coincidence, some will like it, some will not, I thought it could've work better if the scenes around the big twist were longer.The acting is superb, really great. I thought the kids were exceptional as were the principal actors.The direction was good, the frame was used well, but some shots looked rushed.
The photography was fine.The screenplay is good, but it lacked a strong narrative in the middle act and some characters were not essential to the story, Whoopi was wasted. What happened to the little sister in the final act? Overall, a good film, but the script should've been very strong.
Seemed long ... but still worthwhile
posted on 31 Aug 2009This movie is two movies really, and that is why it may appear longer than what it is. The first half deals with the loss of a child at a school reunion. The child does not reappear, and the way the family deal with it is extremely well done. Pfeiffer portrays the mother who never gets over the grief extremely well. The second half of the movie deals with the family moving to Chicago, and by an amazing twist of fate, stumble across their son. Naturally it is NOT all roses from here on. The son is taken out of the home he is used to, told that he was kidnapped and expected to fit in to his new family. By this time, I was very sad as I just wanted it to come together nicely for the family. For awhile the movie seeed to drag, but it was still watchable. Fine performances from Treat Williams as the father who expects everything to fall into place, and as mentioned above, a great performance from Michelle Pfeiffer as the mother who has to endure so much pain. I agree with others, it seems like a telemovie only because many telemovies focus on similar family themes. The movie will promise you this though: in the blink of an eye, your whole life can change.