Terms of Endearment Review

It’s such a shame that, with the strengths of this cast, nothing of interest comes out of Terms of Endearment. A drama film that compiles the various struggles of a mother and daughter team over the course of many years, this piece from director James L. Brooks is an Oscar darling, Best Picture winner and lauded film. At times, it’s easy to understand why that is the case, especially given the immense talent on display throughout. But for me, this talent isn’t consistent enough to make for an interesting or ultimately worthwhile piece of film. Not because it’s bad or uninteresting, but because the drama it showcases doesn’t feel all that worthwhile.

There’s no denying the tensions bubbling under the surface of the film. We dive into the lives of Aurora (Shirley MacClaine) and Emma Horton (Debra Winger), at odds from the very first moment we see them on-screen together. Aurora’s over-protective opening doesn’t come into fruition in the most important of times, the over-bearing angle lost to her relegated role as subplot device alongside a thoroughly well cast Jack Nicholson. It’s a shame though, since Terms of Endearment would like us to pry at this over-protective narrative dynamic as much as possible, but never offers up a moment outside of its first twenty minutes to do so. It feels like a rather shallow point masked as narrative drama that never crops up in any engaging way.

The second John Lithgow shows up, Terms of Endearment shapes itself up into more of a comedy than a drama. It becomes lighter in tone and even though it deals with tense and meaningful family drama, the direction never fully commits to detailing them in any thoughtful manner. In fact, the majority of the cast do make for relatively likeable, fleshed-out characters. The dynamic between MacClaine and Winger is a formidable one, the mother and daughter dynamic provides a great leading relationship that the film doesn’t fully utilise. These moments do offer up charm, especially from Winger, whose central performance brings out the best in those that surround her. MacClaine, in particular, offers up an emotionally charged performance, but by then it’s a tad too late to be very impactful.

Terms of Endearment should have been a lot better than it was, especially with such a formidable group of actors. It has pockets of generally well-assembled scenes, a few notes of chemistry between Nicholson and MacLaine, but lacks the overall drive needed to maintain a consistent dramatic narrative. A cautious recommendation with this one, but really, it’s only for those that have a love for these performers, who are at times on top of their game throughout this Best Picture winner.