Amazon.com essential video: Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, Kramer vs. Kramer remains as powerfully moving today as it was when released in 1979, simply because its drama will remain relevant for couples of any generation. Adapted by director Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, this is perhaps the finest, most evenly balanced film ever made about the failure of marriage and the tumultuous shift of parental roles. It begins when Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) bluntly informs her husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman) that she's leaving him, just as his advertising career is advancing and demanding most of his waking hours. Self-involvement is just one of the film's underlying themes, along with the search for identity that prompts Joanna to leave Ted with their first-grade son (Justin Henry), who now finds himself living with a workaholic parent he barely knows. Juggling his domestic challenge with professional deadlines, Ted is further pressured when his wife files for custody of their son. This legal battle forms the dramatic spine of the film, but its power is derived from Benton's flawlessly observant script and the superlative performances of his entire cast. Because Benton refuses to assign blame and deals fairly with both sides of a devastating dilemma, the film arrives at equal levels of pain, growth, and integrity under emotionally stressful circumstances. That gives virtually every scene the unmistakable ring of truth--a quality of dramatic honestly that makes Kramer vs. Kramer not merely a classic tearjerker, but one of the finest American dramas of its decade. --Jeff Shannon
A poignant tale of growth and parenthood that still brings tears today... There are many films about the deterioration of the marriage arrangement, but very few of them can reach the levels of emotional attachment that `Kramer vs. Kramer' manages to grasp hold of. To say that `Kramer vs. Kramer' doesn't still resonate today is a miscalculation if you ask me, for even if the eventual result is softer and or more delicate than is often the case in reality, there is so much truth in every frame that one can't help but draw comparisons to similar situations today.
The film tells the story of Ted Kramer, a successful advertising executive who just landed a huge account and a big promotion. His joyful celebration is cut short when he arrives home to find his wife Joanna packed and ready to leave. After a brief and vague explanation she walks out of Ted and their son Billy's life and Ted finds himself in a very strange and foreign situation. It is clear right from the start that Ted doesn't know how to be a caretaker, but what I love about Ted is that even at it's roughest he is always a father, for his love for Billy shines through even his most extreme shortcomings. As the months pass their relationship strengthens and Ted winds up being the parent he always was just didn't know how to express, and Billy is better off for it. But then Joanna returns, wanting custody of the son she abandoned and Ted finds himself in an even tighter spot as he fights to keep the son he's grown to appreciate.
`Kramer vs. Kramer' plays out like two films. The first have is a sweet and inspiring journey of a man coming into his own, understanding how to be a father and how to raise a child. It's the story of a man who possible took everything he had for granted, but the instant his world was turned upside down he fought to come to an accurate appreciation of life's gems.
The second half though is much more exhausting, as Joanna and Ted find themselves fighting over Billy in court. The ugly side of divorce is brought on strong, and it shifts the tone of the film drastically. It reminded me of the first time I saw `Million Dollar Baby', how the first act and the second act represented two very drastically different emotion tones; one part raising your spirits and the second part obliterating them. `Kramer vs. Kramer' surely ends on a soft and sweet note (although it still had me bawling) but that second act is still devastating in its own right.
`Kramer vs. Kramer' feels very short, which I actually believe works to its benefit. I often prefer films that really elaborate on each character and scene and build a life inside itself, but `Kramer vs. Kramer' doesn't need to stretch the clock to do that. It quickly, yet efficiently, fleshes out our main characters (namely Ted) and never allows itself to drag on long enough to bore us. It's like a sucker-punch to the gut; quick and undetectable yet brutally effective.
The performances here are amazing to say the least. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep definitely deserved those Oscars, for their portrayals of Ted and Joanna carry this film through all of its emotional arcs. Jane Alexander is wonderful as family friend Margaret Phelps, and rightfully landed herself an Oscar nomination. Her testimony is one of the most touching scenes in the film. Oscar nominated Justin Henry is just unbelievably real as young Billy. His performance just wrecked me. His final scenes with Hoffman are some of the most tender and honest scenes in the entire film. I remember the scene where they make French Toast for the second time (probably the single greatest scene in the film for all of its symbolic expressions of growth in relationship between father and son) and feeling the tears streaming down my face because the scene was so effortless, so natural.
`Kramer vs. Kramer' is a flawless film that still stands tall as an inspiring and moving cinematic landmark. I'm so thrilled that the Academy showered this film with multiple Oscar wins, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor and Supporting Actress. There aren't many films out there today that have this sort of power.
Not aging well. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, 1979)
Okay, I'll admit it, almost thirty years later I wanted to see Kramer vs. Kramer again solely for the JoBeth Williams scene. Yes, I am shallow. It's all I really remembered from the movie, other than Meryl Streep's "I make thirty-one thousand dollars" speech. And it's just as much fun this time around as it was when I originally saw the movie over twenty-five years ago. (I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so; the first keyword for the movie at IMDB is "nude wearing glasses".) I was reminded, however, of much of the reason I seem to have forgotten the rest of the movie, which has not aged well at all.
Ted (Dustin Hoffman) and Joanna (Meryl Streep) Kramer are married with child, Billy (Justin Henry). All is not well in casa de Kramer, however, and Joanna runs off to find herself, leaving Ted with Billy. Ted, who has spent much of his time working and very little of it with Billy, has to learn to connect with the lil' bugger while simultaneously learning to be a single parent. Nine months and one lost job later, that's finally happened-- and then Joanna shows back up and wants custody of her kid. Cue dirty custody battle.
Yes, it's certainly a watchable film, if dated nowadays, but in the slightly more enlightened society in which we now live, I hope the script's defects are a lot clearer to those watching it now. ** ½
Another key cultural artifact "Kramer vs. Kramer" is a perfect artifact that speaks to the discourses of the men's movement and the women's movement.
"Sometimes Mommy and Daddy Don't Get Along..." In several ways, this movie is really great work. It starts with Dustin Hoffman (An Art Director) trying to get his company a major contract. He comes home late only to realize that his wife (Streep) is leaving him and thus leaving him in charge of their preteen son. We don't know exactly why she left, but we are lead to believe that Hoffman was so involved in his job, that he didn't understand Streep's pain. (And we are permitted some sympathy for her.) At the time this movie was made, divorce was becoming more common, and single parenting was becoming a trend. This movie appears to be a reaction against the concept that the mother was undoubtedly the better parent for the child to live with. (One is entitled to wonder if this movie was the foundation for "Mrs. Doubtfire," but we won't go there.) Moving on, Dustin Hoffman tries REALLY HARD to handle his responsibilities to his son Billy, while at the same time holding down his job. We can sense that the abrupt departure of Streep is also taking its toll on him, but fortunately, he does find help from Jane Alexander. (His wife's best friend) One great thing about this movie is that it is not your typical: 'Father knows best' scenario. Hoffman gets angry and frustrated. At one point, he picks Billy up and throws him (though on a bed). But Dustin is not perfect. He is a human being who does the best he can under the circumstances. A really moving moment is when Billy falls in the park and Dustin rushes him through the streets to the hospital. The platonic love between Hoffman and Alexander is also a great aspect of this movie. Jane Alexander does her role as the family friend who wants to help VERY WELL. Despite the problems between Billy and Dustin, their relationship improves vastly, and they do recover from Streep's abrupt departure. (An especially beautifully done scene is when Hoffman helps Billy ride a bike for the 1st time.) But tensions rise, and Streep resurfaces (over a year later) and suddenly wants her child back. We can scarcely blame Dustin for his rage here. Either Streep is ill, or she has no conscience. (And while we may have had some sympathy for her at the start of the film, it is certainly gone now.) To make matters worse, Dustin gets unexpectedly and brutally fired from his job. (Not a good situation in any case. But even worse if you are trying to win a custody battle!) In an especially well drawn set of scenes, Dustin Hoffman lands a new job in less than a day. (He's overqualified for it to be sure, but it is in his field, and we can infer that his life will settle into a more traditional 9-5 slot, which is good.) The movie then proceeds into the custody hearing with predictable results. One of my few complaints here is that Streep's lawyer used some arguments that didn't make sense. (Dustin caused some trouble at his job because he had to attent to his son who was suffering a 104 degrees fever.) Without going on too long, in this sad story, there is an interesting form of comic relief. (When Dustin tries to find wording for things like divorce and custody hearings that his son can understand: "Well...sometimes mommy and daddy don't get along...") Also worth mentioning are 2 scenes where we get the idea with no spoken words. (Hoffman and Billy get their routine for breakfast down knowing that Meryl Streep is not coming back, and where after their 1st miserable attempt at making french toast, they get the routine down without even having to say anything to each other.) Overall, it's a really great movie that shows that situations don't always arise from heroes vs villains. Sometimes they arise through conflicts of well meaning people with different ideas.
Some People are Clueless For everyone complaining how it was a bad movie obviously had no idea what they were watching or the point of the whole movie. The point was not for a family drama the whole point was to show a fatal flaw in the justice system. Back in the day there was a law in place saying that if a child was under a certain age and both parents were able to take care of the kid that it would by default go to the mother because women were better nurturers.
The whole point of the film was to show that fathers can nurture just as good as mothers and mothers should not just be given custody by default. To truly understand this movie you would have to have some knowledge of family law back in the 70's and early 80's. Its like watching a WW2 movie without knowing the background behind WW2
plus this law was very much an issue back in that time..only watching it now does it seem dumb cause the atmosphere and justice system changed
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