Twisted Family Tree

In the past few years the entertainment industry has squarely placed adoption issues in the realm of television. So only a star-studded cast could have flungImmediate Family, which treats the subject of open adoption, onto the big screen.

Immediate Family

Directed by Jonathan Kaplan

Opening this weekend

Sure enough, the movie presents a star-studded cast. Glenn Close and James Woods give endearing performances as Linda and Michael Spector, an infertile couple hoping to adopt a baby. Mary Stuart Masterson and Kevin Dillon play un-wed teens hoping to give their child an advantaged life through adoption.

The actors and actresses in Immediate Family are all masters of their craft. Each demonstrates proficiency in assuming his part flawlessly. One does not wonder for long why Woods and Close accepted light comedy, light drama, and conventional roles.

Immediate Family reminds viewers that serious actors do not have to be type-cast. Before realizing Close once played Big Chill-type roles, audience members expect her to be holding a knife instead of a birthday present in her lap at the movie's start. And where is the whiskey-swigging adventurer Woods plays in Salvador?

Nor do supporting actors Masterson and Dillon weaken the film. In Immediate Family, they complement main storylines with humor and charm.

Barbara Benedek, who co-wrote The Big Chill with Immediate Family producer Lawrence Kasdan, pieced together the movie's sentimental screenplay. Benedek's greatest literary strength is her sense of timing. Immediate Family runs at a well-paced clip, which keeps the movie's short segments from becoming disjointed.

Besides maintaining the audience's attention with their scenic variety, these segments contribute to the movie's understated wit. One moment the Spectors let Lucy and Sam, the teenagers, borrow their car. Michael says to his wife, "Admit it--your most paranoid fantasy--they run off with the baby and the car, only stopping long enough to rip off a few convenience stores, and we end up on Geraldo as the most gullible people in America." The next moment the kids return, and the Spectors pretend they never worried.

Imaginative camera work enhances Benedek's comic vision. The camera looks down from a high angle at the Spectors' home preparations for an artificial insemination attempt, lending the couple's futile but exhaustive efforts an air of absurdity. In another scene the camera stays stationary as Linda moves from room to room, rather than following her. With this kind of cinematography, Immediate Family merely observes human foibles rather than draws attention to them.

Despite thoughtful dialogue, subtle humor and top-notch performances, Benedek's script is plagued by a weak plot and unimaginative characters. The last 45 minutes of Immediate Family drag.

Why, at this point, does the movie show Michael cutting his adopted baby's umbilical cord? Wasn't his presence in the delivery room enough to stress his growing ties with Lucy? Generally the movie's realism provides for comic relief, but the end of Immediate Family degenerates.

Even its soundtrack, which includes Van Morrison, Otis Redding and Little Feat, does not help. The movie's problem is not its dialogue, acting, or production; its problem is a stale subject which hardly shows up even on primetime anymore.