When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.

Director:

Luis Mandoki

Writers:

Ronald Bass, Al Franken

Stars:

Andy Garcia, Meg Ryan, Ellen Burstyn

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Garcia	...	Michael Green
Meg Ryan	...	Alice Green
Ellen Burstyn	...	Emily
Tina Majorino	...	Jess Green
Mae Whitman	...	Casey Green
Lauren Tom	...	Amy
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Gary
Eugene Roche	...	Walter
Gail Strickland	...	Pam
Steven Brill	...	Madras Tie Guy
Susanna Thompson	...	Janet
Erinn Canavan	...	Shannon
LaTanya Richardson	...	Dr. Gina Mendez (as Latanya Richardson)
Bari K. Willerford	...	Malcolm
James Jude Courtney	...	Earl

Storyline

An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.

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Plot Keywords:

airline pilot | alcoholism | detox | addiction | vacation | 

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Taglines:

Through the good times. Through the bad times. When a Man Loves a Woman it's for all times.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Vietnamese

Release Date:

13 May 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Significant Other

Filming Locations:

Cancún, Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Box Office

Gross:

£1,634,249 (UK) (9 September 1994)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was based on ten pages of notes written by Orson Welles.

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Goofs

When Michael takes the bottles out to the trash, a cameraman can be seen slinking past the open doorway of the house.

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Quotes

Alice Green: I think I could love you again if you could, for once, say 'I don't know.'

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Crazy Credits

As the end credits roll, we see people socializing at an A.A. meeting.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cleveland Show: When a Man (or a Freight Train) Loves His Cookie (2013)

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Soundtracks

"El Gusto (Son Huasteco)"
Written by Elpidio Ramírez (as Elpidio Ramirez)
Performed by Los Lobos
Courtesy of Slash Records/Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

A Highly Underrated Film

When first renting this film, I expected to see a typical love story. I found, instead, a film that truly attempted to accurately display what happens in relationships where one member has a drinking problem. It is powerful and shows the true pain and confusing that often looms over these situations. Rather than sending Alex to detox and having her come home happy, she came home very confused about life and what she was doing. This is one of the many ways this film reflects true life. My only qualm is the ending. Rather than keeping true to the story, the filmmakers seemed to give up and ended it on a happy, superficial note. Despite this letdown, I love this film and everything it tries to communicate.

Meg Ryan's performance is one of the underrated of the decade. She should have received on Oscar nomination for it and was certainly better than Jessica Lange that year. I have read a few comments here saying she did a terrible job. I would ask these people to define what a good performance is to them. Not only did Ryan communicate every possible feeling that a woman in Alex's situation could have, she did it with style and ease. Not only that, but made a dramatic move with this film from her already great performances in romantic comedy. Ryan should be applauded for taking such a huge risk and having it pay off.

Andy Garcia also has a tremendous performance in this film. He too displays very complex emotions of a faulted man with skill.

The one aspect of this film that I love so much is how no character is faultless in the whole situation. All members have contributed to the problem, and all must face up to what they did and try to improve what they have. I don't know if this makes much sense (I feel my thoughts are jumbled). In one simple statement: SEE THIS MOVIE. THE TITLE DOES NOT ACCURATELY DISPLAY THE MOVIE IT TRULY IS. The title makes it sound like another sappy love story. What the viewer gets is a tremendous study of the damage alcoholism can bring to a family.