Immediate Family
Few subjects for film are as fat with moral and emotional complexity as human infertility, and the 1989Immediate Familyis an interesting, serio-comic example. Glenn Close and James Woods star as the Spectors, an aging, professional couple who can't conceive on their own. After meeting an unmarried and pregnant 17-year-old girl named Lucy (Mary Stuart Masterson), the Spectors decide to care for her until she hands over her baby to them for adoption. Everything goes according to plan until Lucy and her boyfriend (Kevin Dillon) make the bold decision that they don't want to part with their child, leaving the Spectors twisting in the wind until collective love and wisdom find a way out of this predicament. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan (The Accused),Immediate Familyhas an honest appeal and attractive performances, but is also noteworthy for its counterintuitive casting of a fiery Woods as a bland, conventional lead.--Tom Keogh