Adapted from Jacquelyn Mitchard's best-selling novel of the same name and thematically reminiscent of 1995's "Losing Isaiah" as well as the recent case involving children having been sent home from the hospital with the wrong parents, "The Deep End of the Ocean" is a well- acted, thought provoking drama.
It's also too methodical and slow, never really resolves the questions it raises, and probably only due to the sheer star power involved did it avoid being relegated to the more appropriate setting of a made for TV movie. In addition, while it thankfully avoids falling into the soap opera-ish melodrama above which it so precariously balances itself, the film purposefully avoids nearly any sentimentality that ends up ultimately and unnecessarily grounding the production. As such, this major theatrical release has as much of a chance to break out at the box office as does the upcoming "Star Wars" prequel of not doing so.
While I'll admit to not being familiar with the source novel (and thus can't compare it with the big screen adaption), this version could have used a bit more sentiment. Of course, any parent will easily be able to identify with the resulting trauma that this family goes through, but parts of how events unfold and the way characters react don't always play out realistically.
Although it was nice not to have the different family members blaming each other outright for what happened, a little of that would have been expected, especially as the panic-stricken Beth realizes that Vincent wasn't paying attention and let young Ben slip from his sight (although we later learn the truth about that). It's similarly doubtful that she'd later allow Vincent to wait by himself at school -- what with the abduction of her other son -- but we see this happen more than once.
Likewise, the later scenes where everyone else seems to have gotten on with their lives just months after the incident -- such as at a Christmas get-together -- also feel contrived. Would Pat, the father who fights Beth's later attempts to give Sam back to his "adoptive" father, really be that happy on Christmas Eve? Sure, he's probably wearing his best game face, but we only guess that because we don't see the moment just outside the front door where he'd presumably be trying to regain his composure before entering with the family Christmas tree.
Such moments would have added a great deal more to this picture, but they're conspicuously absent for the most part. As a result, the film lacks any true emotional connection with the audience -- beyond the "we can feel your pain because we're parents too" element -- and thus plays out more like a slow-moving documentary instead of a heartfelt, moving drama.
As such, director Ulu Grosbard ("The Subject Was Roses," "Georgia") and screenwriter Stephen Schiff (the "Lolita" remake and the upcoming "True Crime") seem more interested in presenting thought-provoking issues regarding what really constitutes family and the old nature vs. nurture argument. Thus, we're presumably supposed to be torn over the question regarding whom should raise the boy -- his biological parents whom he no longer knows, or the adoptive father who's raised the boy but wasn't directly involved in his abduction.
While the questions are deep and similar to those found in the Jessica Lange/ Halle Berry vehicle, "Losing Isaiah" (and will undoubtably stir up memories from several years ago of that little boy who was legally removed from the family he knew and loved to live with another), the film never really answers those questions. It plays with the answers -- teasing the audience one way and then the next -- without the film, or the involved characters, ever taking a concrete stand.
Instead, the motivationally questionable ending has too much of a wimpy, Hollywood feel, and comes off more like just a quick solution that allows the film to end instead of being a realistically sound conclusion. Of course that's easier to believe than the moment that takes place forty-five minutes or so into the film.
That's when Sam knocks on Beth's door. The probability that the twelve-year-old would do so and then end up living only two blocks away from his old family in a suburb of Chicago (with a population in the neighborhood of around eight million or so) is so remote and far-fetched that one needs a freighter-sized dose of suspension of disbelief to swallow that plot development.
While I don't know if it happens the same way in the novel, any other happened upon circumstance -- Beth spots him at her daughter's school play, he shows up on the local news or in the newspaper for saving a dog's life, etc... -- would have been more realistic, not to mention believable.
Fortunately, and serving as the film's saving grace, the performances from all involved are quite strong. Three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer ("The Fabulous Baker Boys," "Dangerous Liaisons"), who also helped bring this story to the big screen, delivers a strong and finely tuned performance. Giving the film some needed credibility and emotion that's otherwise somewhat lacking, Pfeiffer smartly avoids what easily could have been a melodramatic take on her character and clearly evokes the audience's collective sympathy.
The film is clearly hers and despite a solid performance from Treat Williams ("1941," "Prince of the City") as her embattled husband, he can't escape being just a strong supporting character to her lead.
The more interesting performances come from Jonathan Jackson (TV's "General Hospital") and Ryan Merriman (TV's "The Pretender") as the brothers who don't quite know how to deal with each other or their past. Nicely and, more important, convincingly played as "real" kids instead of the stereotypes so commonly found in today's sophomoric teen-based comedies, the two young men do a great job portraying their conflict-laden characters.
Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg ("Ghost," "The Color Purple") is presumably present for some much needed comic relief -- although she gets very few opportunities to deliver that -- and for reasons unknown is categorized as a lesbian, a point that never comes into play after her initial, informative announcement.
While the film is far from horrible, it could have used more dramatic fireworks and/or strongly projected emotional resonance with which the audience could connect. Although the filmmakers correctly assume that moviegoers will automatically empathize with the family's dilemma and Pfeiffer's character, more often than not we feel like casual bystanders rather than people truly and deeply involved with the story and its resolution. Despite the solid performances and intriguing premise, "The Deep End of the Ocean" never quite surfaces from its cool and murky depths. As such, we give the film a 5 out of 10.