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Custody

  • 20162016
  • TV-14TV-14
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Custody (2016)
"Custody" revolves around three women brought together when hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son. Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.
Play trailer1:00
1 Video
12 Photos
  • Drama

The lives of three women are unexpectedly changed when they cross paths at a New York Family Court.The lives of three women are unexpectedly changed when they cross paths at a New York Family Court.The lives of three women are unexpectedly changed when they cross paths at a New York Family Court.

IMDb RATING
6.4/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • James Lapine
  • Writer
    • James Lapine
  • Stars
    • Viola Davis
    • Hayden Panettiere
    • Catalina Sandino Moreno
Top credits
  • Director
    • James Lapine
  • Writer
    • James Lapine
  • Stars
    • Viola Davis
    • Hayden Panettiere
    • Catalina Sandino Moreno
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 13User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 nominations

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:00
    Official Trailer

    Photos12

    Lukas Gilkison-Parrish and Olivia Gilkison-Parrish at an event for Custody (2016)
    Olivia Gilkison-Parrish at an event for Custody (2016)
    Lukas Gilkison-Parrish and Olivia Gilkison-Parrish at an event for Custody (2016)
    Custody (2016)
    Hayden Panettiere and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Custody (2016)
    Hayden Panettiere and Jaden Michael in Custody (2016)
    Viola Davis in Custody (2016)
    Ellen Burstyn and Hayden Panettiere in Custody (2016)
    Viola Davis in Custody (2016)
    Raúl Esparza in Custody (2016)
    Catalina Sandino Moreno and Jaden Michael in Custody (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Viola Davis
    Viola Davis
    • Martha Schulmanas Martha Schulman
    Hayden Panettiere
    Hayden Panettiere
    • Ally Fisheras Ally Fisher
    Catalina Sandino Moreno
    Catalina Sandino Moreno
    • Sara Diazas Sara Diaz
    Tony Shalhoub
    Tony Shalhoub
    • Jason Schulmanas Jason Schulman
    Ellen Burstyn
    Ellen Burstyn
    • Beatrice Fisheras Beatrice Fisher
    Raúl Esparza
    Raúl Esparza
    • Luis Sanjuroas Luis Sanjuro
    Dan Fogler
    Dan Fogler
    • Keith Denholzas Keith Denholz
    Jaden Michael
    Jaden Michael
    • David Diazas David Diaz
    Bryce Lorenzo
    Bryce Lorenzo
    • Tia Diazas Tia Diaz
    Nicholas L. Ashe
    Nicholas L. Ashe
    • Elliot Schulmanas Elliot Schulman
    Julius Tennon
    Julius Tennon
    • Court Officer Joeas Court Officer Joe
    Karen Pittman
    Karen Pittman
    • Elaine Dunbaras Elaine Dunbar
    Roger Robinson
    Roger Robinson
    • Martha's Fatheras Martha's Father
    Shacha Temirov
    • Anthonyas Anthony
    • (as Shakjzodbek Temirov)
    Charlotte Maier
    • Barnesas Barnes
    Tony Torn
    Tony Torn
    • Byronas Byron
    Daniel Gerroll
    Daniel Gerroll
    • Campbell Fisheras Campbell Fisher
    Myra Lucretia Taylor
    Myra Lucretia Taylor
    • Mrs. Chaneyas Mrs. Chaney
    • Director
      • James Lapine
    • Writer
      • James Lapine
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    The lives of three women are unexpectedly changed when they cross paths at a New York Family Court.
    • one word title
    • written by director
    • female protagonist
    • husband wife relationship
    • mother son relationship
    • 80 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genre
      • Drama
    • Certificate
      • TV-14
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Second time Hayden Panettiere and Viola Davis appear in a film together, after The Architect (2006) .
    • Goofs
      Eating out for Thanksgiving, they order pumpkin pie to go. The waitress brings it on plates.
    • Soundtracks
      Bout That Live
      Written by Andre O'Neil Fennel, Dwayne A. Shippy & Josh Kessler

      Courtesy of FirstCom Music

    User reviews13

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Well, well above the Lifetime norm
    Two nights ago I watched an especially compelling movie on Lifetime: "Custody," which they identified as a "Premiere" (not a "World Premiere"!) even though, judging from the stellar names both in front of and behind the camera — Viola Davis and Hayden Panettiere are the writers and the writer/director is James Lapine, best known for writing the books for Stephen Sondheim's musicals "Sunday in the Park with George," "Into the Woods" and "Passion" — and also from the frequent blipping of swear words, I assume this film was intended for theatrical release. Sara Diaz (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a single mother with two kids, son David (Jaden Michael) and daughter Tia (Bryce Lorenzo — a girl named Bryce?). When David comes to school with bruises that indicate his mom may have abused him, the school calls New York's Child Protective Services department, who immediately take both David and Tia away from Sara and schedule her for a hearing in family court either to set conditions for their return or remove them permanently. Sara is not surprisingly totally freaked out by this, especially when she ends up in the courtroom of formidable Judge Martha Schulman (Viola Davis) and a blonde woman from an upper-class background, Alexandra "Ally" Fisher (Hayden Panettiere), is appointed to be her attorney. Judge Schulman is conducting the hearing at such a rapid pace that Ally has to take the case without knowing the slightest thing about what it is, let alone having a chance to confer with her client in advance. The young, naïve 25-year- old lawyer is up against no fewer than three people on the other side: a woman counsel appointed as a guardian ad litem to represent the best interest of the kids; Santoro (Raúl Esparza from the current cast of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," playing essentially the same character, a relentless prosecutor), representing Child Protective Services; and Keith Denholz (Dan Fogler), representing New York City's office of corporate counsel (essentially their version of a city attorney) and if anything even more determined to take Sara's kids away from her than Santoro is. (He's also got the hots for Ally and makes a series of embarrassingly crude passes at her.)

    Santoro is especially up against it because on the last case he worked, he recommended returning a 5-year-old to the mother as she was coming out of drug rehab — only mom relapsed almost immediately, left the kid alone at home while she went out to "party," and the child died of starvation. So he's clearly bending over backwards to give Sara a hard time next she and her children be the next black mark on her résumé. As for Keith, he keeps springing surprise documents on the court, including a revelation that Sara has a criminal record for drug possession — her ex-husband Shawn (Sharrieff Pugh), father of David and Tia, was a drug dealer and smuggler who's currently serving a prison sentence, though he hid one of his drug shipments in Tia's diaper bag and that got Sara charged with being part of his drug operation. The charges were eventually dropped but they weren't expunged from her record, and Keith dredges them up again. Judge Schulman recommends that Sara get tested for drugs, and Ally assures her, "That's only to make sure you're not using cocaine or heroin" — only the test turns out positive, not for cocaine and heroin but for marijuana and PCP (Sara was with friends and family when they passed around a PCP-laced joint and she took a hit, then agreed to the drug test because she didn't realize, and Ally didn't tell her, it was for pot as well), and Keith drops that as yet another bombshell to keep Sara for getting her kids. Sara's biggest obstacle is her hair-trigger temper (that should be a lesson for me!) that causes her to blow up in court — when she finally admits that she struck her son in anger because he wouldn't behave, we believe it — and at one point Judge Schulman orders her into anger management classes.

    What's most fascinating about this movie is how it counterpoints the main plot with the family dysfunctions of the characters around them: the gimmick is that just about everyone in the court system charged with making decisions about Sara and whether she's a fit parent for her kids has their own family problems. Aside from the marvelous irony that all these authority figures are trying to tell Sara how to raise her kids when their own family lives are falling apart, "Custody" is a good illustration of mystery writer and former child protective services worker Abigail Padgett's comment to me that never, if you can possibly avoid it, allow yourself or your children to be caught up in these sorts of systems because the systems have their own priorities, and those aren't likely to be yours. "Custody" has been criticized for its plethora of plot lines — though I found that for once a movie or TV show with multiple plot lines used those strands to reinforce each other and add to the dramatic point, not just to confuse people or seem like they're being "post-modern." It's an excellent movie and one which should have got a theatrical release; it also ran 2 ½ hours less commercials, not Lifetime's standard two hours, which had me worrying that they were going to make it part one of a serial (or, even worse, the pilot for a series — it wasn't at all clear from the promos Lifetime ran for it whether it was a stand-alone film or a TV series), but no-o-o-o-o, it was a stand-alone TV-movie with a satisfying if a not altogether happy ending, and it was very much worth watching and several cuts above the Lifetime norm.
    helpful•11
    5
    • mgconlan-1
    • Mar 6, 2017

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 19, 2017 (Spain)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • The Wrap
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Velayet
    • Production companies
      • Lucky Monkey Pictures
      • Mustard & Co
      • JuVee Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo

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