When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

“No Michael, we’re supposed to try to be real. And when you feel alone, you are not together, and that is real. ” – Alice

Number of Times Seen – 2 (Theater in ’94 and 2 Nov 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A happily married couple try to deal with the wife’s increasing dependence on alcohol when their lives start to spiral downward.

My Take on it – This is a film that I saw when it came out and for some reason never had the chance to see it again.

Meg Ryan is great in this role and deserves much more recognition for her work, but the film is easily a high point for Andy Garcia because he is superb here as the husband dealing with his wife’s alcoholism.

This film has a few strong messages about the dangers of alcoholism but the main message deals with how family members need to cope during these troubling times and the story clearly does a great job establishing that complex situation.

As enjoyable as this film is to watch, it is missing a slight extra push to make it even better.

The emotional roller-coaster ride that we are taken on is nice to watch since the message and themes are still unfortunately quite relevant today over twenty years after this film came out.

Bottom Line – Ryan is great here, but Garcia really steals the show. Great message about the dangers of alcoholism but also deals with the effects on close family members and their ability to cope with their loved one.  Missing that extra push to make this film amazing, but still an emotional rollercoaster that is unfortunately still relevant today. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The movie was based on ten pages of notes written by Orson Welles. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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