Ordinary People
1980
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Judd Hirsch
Before I dive right in with my thoughts on Ordinary People, I have to say something about myself and my film tastes. I hate melodramas. There is nothing worse for me than overly emotional film. They make me want to use my fingernails to peel back the skin on my arms. I think they are maudlin and manipulative, and I absolutely detest feeling as though a movie is overtly emotionally manipulating me. I’m thinking of movies like Stepmom, Swing Kids, and pretty much any Robin Williams drama. My most detested movie of all time – OF ALL TIME – is Dead Poets Society. There isn’t enough money in the world to make me watch that piece of tripe again, unless I play the drinking game where I have to drink every time the movie makes me roll my eyes. At that rate, I’d be drunk about twenty minutes in. I hate hate HATE overly emotional sappy sentimentalism. I have little to no patience for it in movies I choose to watch. It’s my least favorite type of movie ever.
All of which made me very nervous to watch Ordinary People, because that’s what I thought it was.
Holy f**k was I wrong.
