Teri Garr, Peter Weller, Christopher Collet

There's a new man in his mother's life. A difficult, dangerous, violent man. Now Jake's got to stand up for himself and his family.

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55% liked it

1,332 ratings

PG-13

Directed by: Michael Apted

Release Date: January 1, 1984

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Flixster Reviews (46)


  • August 11, 2008
    Michael Apted directs a heavy-handed suburban sitcom about a harried divorced mom and her two children. Wendy Livingston (Teri Garr) is alone raising her 15-year-old high school son Jake (Christopher Collet) and his adolescent brother Brian (Corey Haim) after divorcing lawyer hub...( read more)by Alan--someone she still loves. Hubby remarries and on the rebound Wendy meets security system salesman Sam, and has him move into her comfortable suburban home over the objections raised by her children. Sam turns out to be a small-time cocaine dealer with big plans to own a restaurant and get his own surveillance business. All he needs is capital. The children spot him immediately as a big-talking phony despite his trying to buy them off with gifts, and family life in the once happy household becomes a bummer. Sam is an abusive surrogate father and a nasty asshole, but Wendy digs him and ignores the pleas of her children to ditch this good for nothing. The performances are strong, the plot moves with a compelling simplicity, and the dialogue shows a good ear for the way the movie's different kinds of characters might really speak. The movie had been so good that somehow it didn't have the right to evade all the issues it had raised and just turn into a suburban thriller.
  • July 21, 2009
    Peter Weller is best known for playing the hero in movies like Leviathan, and most notably, the title character in Robocop. But somehow he seems more in his element playing a bad guy. Never better than here. He plays the sleazy new boyfriend of suburban mom Teri Garr. Instantly h...( read more)e butts heads with her oldest son played by Christopher Collet. He tries to come across as a nice guy, but Collet sees beneath the fake smile, and knows that this guy is bad news. Soon, the new man in mom's life has her out partying late, doing coke, and even getting involved in dealing drugs. With no father around, Collet decides to stand up for his family, and do what it takes to get this guy out of their lives. It's a movie that will resonate with anyone that has divorced parents, and had to deal with new adult figures trying to assert an authority position in their lives. Sometimes it's a good thing, and sometimes it isn't. This is one of the worst case scenarios of what can happen to a good family when a bad element is introduced. Weller is at his best, but the rest of the performances are equally sound. Garr can do the soccer mom thing in her sleep. Like his turn in The Manhattan Project, Collet gives us a very believable (although very different) character that easily identifiable with. His problems and concerns are very realistic, and Collet sells it enough to get the audience cheering for him when he finally stands up to the bully. Watch for appearances by a very young Sarah Jessica Parker as Collet's girlfriend, and Robert Downey Jr as his friend who is the first kid the know to get an earring. Ah, the 80's. This is also the film debut of Corey Haim.
  • December 6, 2007
    An interesting movie! Still watch every now and then.
  • July 21, 2008
    Corey Haim was one of my heartthrobs back in the 80s. It's a shame what happened to him, but I will always love his old movies and anything he does in the future. This was one from his early days and he was definetly a star in the making. I wish him luck in getting back on his ...( read more)feet. I watch him now a days on his tv show The Two Coreys and sometimes watching it is sad and I just keep saying to myself this is such a shame, but people pick there own paths and hopefully he will find his way back. Forever will love Corey Haim.
  • August 15, 2007
    REALLYREALLYREALLY want to see the HAIMSTER
  • July 17, 2007
    This was an amazing movie. Christopher Collet was perfect and Peter Weller was a very good looking bad guy. Terri Garr was beautiful and talented as usual. The whole drug and abuse story was very shocking, and with Corey Haim and Christopher Collet this was a movie teens wanted t...( read more)o see. I thought it was all around 2 thumbs up
  • July 12, 2007
    typical movie from the 80's
  • April 6, 2007
    This movie really touched on Post Partum Depression....

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