4/5 That is a sad little ensemble!
  by C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
Someone said they showed parts of "When a Man Loves a Woman" to them in an alcohol program they were in after a DUI arrest. Interesting. From the title it sounds like it is going to be a romance, even a romantic comedy, but it is a serious drama about a man who is married to an alcoholic. Michael Green (Andy Garcia) is a pilot who meets Alice (Meg Ryan) in the Buena Vista Café in Fisherman's Wharf. Actually, it is in what we San Franciscans used to call The Marina. It is the bar where Irish Coffee was invented. If you are ever in San Francisco, try one. Even if it is something for tourists, it is an experience not to be missed. Unless you are an alcoholic and shouldn't drink.

Alice Green, for instance, should not have another Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Café, or Dolce, Hemlock Tavern, Zeitgeist, Holy Cow, Harry Denton's Starlight Room, Martuni's, Endup, The Stud, Specs', Savoy Tivoli, Vesuvio, Kimo's, Bondage a Go-Go, Arrow Bar, Boom Boom Room, Ten 15 Folsom, 330 Ritch, El Rio, Ginger's Trois, Midnight Sun, Bix, Motherlode, The Lexington Club, ELBO Room, and Shotwell's, ever, under any circumstances.

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Alice Green: I drink a quart a day. It's vodka so you couldn't smell it.
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This was a good, serious drama. If you are drinking a quart a day, though, you could smell it, vodka or not. In spite of a few relapses, it was a very realistic depiction of alcoholism. It didn't just have a fake Hollywood ending either, where Alice stopped drinking, took it one day at a time, and lived happily ever after. It also dealt with the enabling behavior of her husband, Michael, and the fact that just because you stop drinking doesn't mean there aren't other issues that you'll have to deal with. It showed the devastating effect that alcoholism can have on the children. The performance of Tina Majorino was incredible as the oldest child, Jessica Green. She really conveys the confusion that children of alcoholics feel. She loves her mother, but when she gets drunk, she hits her. She doesn't stop loving her, but she isn't unscathed. Tina Majorino did a great job, for such a young thespian.

Al Franken, now Senator Franken, formerly Stuart Smallie on SNL, who was good enough, smart enough, and dog gone it, people liked him, wrote the script along with Ronald Bass. Franken and Bass did a really good job with the script. It was based on a ten page synopsis by Orson Welles. I thought that Senator Franken was just a clown, but I guess he has a serious side. Who knew? He also has a cameo as the co-pilot, but he never says much.

Maybe you are saying that you don't want to see a movie about alcoholism because you don't have a drinking problem. Hey, you drink, you fall down. You get back up. No problem. Work is the curse of the drinking class. Though denial is not just a river in Egypt, the talent of Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Andy Garcia, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Al Franken, and Mae Whitcomb cannot be denied. Alice Green may have called her daughter's outfit a 'sad little ensemble' but the actors of "When a Man Loves a Woman" are a great ensemble.

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Michael Green: My wife is an alcoholic.
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Synecdoche New York (2008) Philip Seymour Hoffman was Caden Cotard
What We Do Is Secret (2007) Tina Majorino was Michelle
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Philip Seymour Hoffman was Dean Trumbell
The Man from Elysian Fields (2001) Andy Garcia was Byron
Hurlyburly (New Line Platinum Series) (1998) Meg Ryan was Bonnie
The Big Lebowski (1998) Philip Seymour Hoffman was Brandt
Waterworld (1995) Tina Majorino was Enola
The Joy Luck Club (1993) Lauren Tom was Lena St. Clair
The Doors (Special Edition) (1991) Meg Ryan was Pamela Courson
When Harry Met Sally (1989) Meg Ryan was Sally Albright

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Alice Green: That is a sad little ensemble!
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4/5 Surprisingly Good
  by MarlowesMom (San Francisco)
A thoughtful, insightful movie. Don't coming looking for a romantic comedy or you will be disappointed. I was curious about it because Al Franken had co-written the screenplay. I was familiar with his career as a Saturday Night Live performer and writer and his political satire. As the child of a non-recovered alcoholic parent, I was interested, especially after he launched his Senate campaign, to see how he would handle a difficult, serious, topic of an intimate, personal nature. Al and the rest of the filmmakers did a fine job with a subject that is usually handled in a trite, happy-ever-after ending way.

The movie asks the interesting question: what's harder, the alcoholism or the recovery?

Meg Ryan's character, Alice, drank a lot even before she and her husband, played by Andy Garcia, got married. Alice is a charming, fun drunk. Andy, a caretaker personality, seems to enjoy peeling her off whatever surface she's landed on and carrying her to bed--at least when he's home, which is not all the time since he's an airline pilot. Unfortunately, Alice progresses from being the life of the party to drinking vodka for breakfast. She's not so much fun any more, in fact, she's a wreck, and you won't like her. Her drinking threatens the physical safety and emotional health of her children as drives them around and strikes out at them irrationally when she's drunk. Alice finally is so scared at the danger she's put her children into that she realizes she's out of control and goes into rehab.

The drinking part of the movie is more heart-wrenching than usual because the danger to the children is more graphic than is usually shown. However, the rehab portion of the movie is where it really departs from cliche and challenges the audience. While Alice goes through the process, she cannot see her family, nor does she particularly want to. When she comes home, she's a transformed person. She's got an edge to her, a fierceness, she did not have before, and she has to cling to that difference to avoid falling back into her old patterns. Her husband, who has been comfortable in the caretaker role, does not know what to do. He wants to take care of her and help her as he has always done, but she now must take care of herself. Their old marital paradigm is dead, and whether they can find a new paradigm is not at all clear. You might see a happy ending; I saw an ending where things might get better, but there are no guarantees.

My husband did not find Meg Ryan's performance persuasive. I thought she did quite a good job outside her usual bubbly-cute persona, though she never looks as bad as someone who drinks as much as her character drinks would be expected to look. At least she's not afraid to create a character the audience won't like. Andy Garcia and the supporting actors are excellent. The real star, though, is the thought-provoking, challenging script.

1/5 the dangers of sobriety
  by followtherabbit (new york, usa)
we liked alice when she was drinking. my wife and i both agreed that we would divorce if either of us had a personality like sober alice.

4/5 Great actor
  by Jessica Rogers (Miami, Florida USA)
I love Meg Ryan in this movie. Her acting is so sincere. It really draws you in. You really feel what she feels.

5/5 When a man loves a woman
  by Dee
I bought this movie off of this site because I have been searching for it all over and finally came here and found it. The movie, as I am sure everyone has seen, is about an alcoholic mother who seems to disreguard everything and everyone in her life. She finally is sent away for some help and her family/children come and visit her. Its an adorable movie and Andy Garcia is so adorable in it. It was cheap, easy and sent to me within the next day. I'm not really a movie person, but when I go to search for those that I like, I will definitely be back on this site to find it.