Terms Of Endearment

Lopsided comedy turned tearjerker, saved by excellent performances. TV veteran James Brooks ("Mary Tyler Moore Show") wrote, directed, and co-produced the film which examines a 30-year period in the lives of Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter, Emma (as a child, Jennifer Josey; as an adult, Debra Winger). Aurora is guilty of "smother" love, and, as Emma grows up, she can't wait to escape her mother's suffocating hold. In the face of her mother's anger, Emma marries Flap (Jeff Daniels), has three children, and moves away. All the while, Aurora is wooed by ex-astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson), an uncouth bachelor whose persistence and unfai...