Woman Wanted (1999)

Thanks for the memories!

Admirable film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This made-for-television film from 1999 is a domestic drama that focuses on the father-son relationship in a dysfunctional family. The father, a distinguished physics professor, runs an add for a live-in cook and cleaner. But the job description also includes healing the wounds between the father and son.Michael Moriarty, Kiefer Sutherland, and Holly Hunter are the three performers asked to tackle this challenging project. It turns out that both the father and son fall in love with the housekeeper. As the drama unfolds, there could be almost any possible outcome to this explosive situation. American playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote a brilliant play on the same subject entitled "Desire Under the Elms." "Woman Wanted" is uneven and never reaches the level of intensity of O'Neill's play. The credibility is often strained, and there is even a lapse into comedy when the young man gets married and brings his bride home, only to ask his father to arrange an annulment! But the final thirty minutes of the film are compelling. Sutherland's character evolves nicely, as does Hunter's all-too-human role of the housekeeper. There was good feeling in the performances, and although there were apparent disagreements about directorial choices, the film was shot effectively with smooth transitions and effective scoring.This may not be a great film, but it is nonetheless a thoughtful one and well above average for made-for-television films.

In the end Emma was already leaving,then the one night stand with the son was just "happened". She was leaving because the father was not interested in being a father again, all he seemed to want was for her to go back to school. She could see she was not going to be happy, so she made her choice, and apparently did not mind the dilemma she put the father and son into. The fact that the father and son became closer after that fact is bizarre considering they did not have a close relationship and the fact she slept with both should have made it worse and not better. And I believe the child is Wendell's as Emma comments she wanted a child after they were "legit" so she was not trying to trick anyone.

Holly Hunter is skilful and charming as always, and Kiefer Sutherland is better than usual. Michael Moriarty is sufficiently different from his "Law and Order" role (the only thing from which I really know him) that I can see he's a capable actor, not just a TV character. But everyone's performance is perhaps a bit too unmodulated, with too constant a tone from start to finish. I also had trouble believing the sudden romance than blooms between Moriarty and Hunter. And the Billy Eckstine version of "Everything I Have Is Yours" that plays over the closing credits is such a clash with the flavor of the rest of the movie.I found the ending a bit disturbing, though. I'm not giving anything away that's not already in the IMDB plot summary, but I couldn't help wondering how this odd family would make out, with a newborn that could belong either to Moriarty or Sutherland. Will they teach the child that Sutherland is the father and Moriarty as the grandfather, or that Sutherland is the half-brother and Moriarty is the father? Perhaps not a stressful as "my sister AND my daughter," but awkward nonetheless. Sounds not like the end of the story but the beginning of another one.

In this movie everything is wrong. The script is to bad for words. Why the characters behave like they do is unclear. Everything comes out of the blue. Even the continuity people were bored making this movie. In scene one there is a band aid on Kiefer Sutherlands head, then it is gone, and some time later it is back. Michael Moriarty is giving the worst performance of his lifetime and even Holly Hunter is walking around wondering why on earth she bothered to come to the set of this film. My advise: show this movie on film school in first grade and let students write an essay about everything that is wrong.