Necessary Parties (TV 1988)

Fourteen-year-old Chris Mills goes to court to prevent his parents from ending their marriage.

Director:

Gwen Arner

Writers:

Alan Arkin, Barbara Dana (novel),

Stars:

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Taylor Fry, Julie Hagerty

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark-Paul Gosselaar	...	Chris Mills (as Mark Paul Gosselaar)
Taylor Fry	...	Jenny Mills
Julie Hagerty	...	Connie Mills
Geoff Pierson	...	Stephen Mills (as Geoffrey Pierson)
Danielle Marcot	...	Trudy
Judd Trichter	...	Haverman
Stefan DeSalle	...	Ronald
Jennifer McComb	...	Marion
Brenda Denmark	...	Mrs. Price
Jason Kristofer	...	Ben
Lee Ann Galasso	...	Amy
Maggie Task	...	Mrs. Sivalo
Anthony Arkin	...	Joey
Alan Arkin	...	Archie Corelli
Barbara Dana	...	Carol

Storyline

Fourteen-year-old Chris Mills goes to court to prevent his parents from ending their marriage.

---

Plot Keywords:

marriage | bad lawyer | children's rights | mother son relationship | junior high school | 

---

Genres:

Family | Drama

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Derechos del niño

Filming Locations:

Bronxville, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corelli Company, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), WonderWorks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Archie Corelli: We're dealing with the law here, not solid geometry

User Reviews

Another take on Irreconcilable Differences?

This film deals with important issues but suffers from the made-for-tv vernacular in which it is filmed and could use some serious rewriting.

A divorce told from a child's point of view is going to be painful to watch, but this film is overly so. The parents seem to be totally unsuited to each other and I had the strong feeling that separating them would have been in the best interest of all involved.

The way that these self-involved parents completely ignore their children was distressing to see but this was exacerbated in my view by the way that the kid's attorney/mechanic was always doing several things at once and only giving the kid a small part of his attention. It seemed to me that both of the children could have benefited from as much attention as they could get and it seemed hurtful that the kid's advocate ignored him as much as he did.

Overall the movie was only average and while touching on uncommon thematic ground, it really brought very few new perspectives to light.