okay, this is a good movie, even today alongside marriage story. but guys! 9 academy award nominations in the year that alien came out!? 5 wins in the year that apocalypse now came out!? what were they thinking?! "what's it all about, alfie?": kicking off a series of films that explored breaking up the nuclear family (like the champ in ‘79, the last married couple in america in ‘80, author! author! in ‘82, shoot the moon in ‘82, and many many more) kramer vs kramer apparently capture the zeitgeist of the time, the disillusionment and sense of failing tradition of the late ‘70s. in many ways its a very ‘70s movie, from the cinematography to the score to the declarative speeches and the earnest, bald emotional expression. and of course, theres the leading man, hoffman, who had become the voice of the boomer generation. even though he was 30 in 1967, hoffman played the eponymous graduate and his following roles seemed to always be on the cusp of whatever social movement or concern was dominating the boomer generation at the time. in 1979 when both he and his character of ted kramer were getting a divorce, it seemed like a fitting end to his rushed and idealistic marriage of the ‘67 film. i say all this to try to grapple with what a force this must have been at the time, how relevant it must have all seemed. its the only way i can think of to explain why it was so lauded when alien received only one oscar nomination (art direction, lost to all that jazz) and is literally 400x better, deeper, and more visionary. "you had me at ‘hello.": i have to say that i think hoffman is one of the most over-rated actors in hollywood. i like a lot of his performances, dont get me wrong, but hes just “good”. and he is good here. best actor winner good? eeengh…i think you could easily argue martin sheen was better in apocalypse now (he wasnt even nominated), or steve martin in the jerk, or roddy mcdowell in caligula…but the prudish, prejudiced academy was never going to recognize the work in those films. but yes, hoffman perfectly captures the journey of a self-obsessed career man who discovers his humanity. justin henry as the little kid is cute, and believable, but his academy award nomination seems like a horrible error in judgement to me. i can understand why the actual winner (veteran actor melvyn douglas) was too disgusted to attend the ceremony. imagine a 7-year-old up for the same award youd studied and worked your whole life for? but anyway, yes, meryl streep is great here, too. and shes actually quite pretty, which i never realized until recently. her career didnt really start until she was 30, so id always thought of her as more...matronly?, but you can see her on the cusp here as a woman who is looking at youth that slipped by her without being able to take advantage of it fully. its got resonance. "what we've got here is a failure to communicate.": personally, i feel how the movie starts is a mis-step. it lost my interest right away. we start with joanna (streep) walking out on her child and husband. ted (hoffman) is a pretty douchey manhattanite ‘70s traditional guy. both he and his kid, billy, are not well-prepared to deal with emotionally complex situations, and so they handle joanna leaving very poorly. the first 1/3 of the film is essentially seeing everyone at their worst. the second 1/3 of the film somewhat redeemed the characters for me and reeled me back in, but i didnt actually like the movie until the final 1/3 when everyone involved shows real maturity and emotional development. though the script won the oscar, it was a real mixed bag for me. aside from the structural issues, there are multiple scenes that just feel very unrealistic and on-the-nose, like the filmmakers are trying to explain things to the audience clearly rather than relying on the audience to understand on their own merits. the two most egregious scenes are teds bedtime speech to billy about why his mom left, and joannas courtroom testimony which turns into a long speech about her feelings and why she left. neither feels like the person would really speak that way in that situation. i guess audiences might have needed it spelled out for them that a woman could be personally unfulfilled and feel unheard in a marriage? i also had kind of a hard time believing the “resolution”, thinking it would totally change in a few months or a year. "my tastes are very singular.": i feel like this falls into that category like marriage story, where if youve actually gone through a divorce or a custody battle, this will resonate far more for you than with someone like me that hasnt. probably also will resonate more with an older generation, whereas i could see this feeling pretty dated for millennials, particularly teds violent outbursts towards joanna (and hoffmans real life treatment of streep). suffice to say this is not a movie that will appeal to kids. "forget it, jake, it's chinatown.": kramer vs kramer is a good film, and im glad i watched it. it works as a kind of period piece nowadays, a record of how things were in a bygone era. i wouldnt say were beyond breaking gendered prejudice, but i dont think this film speaks to todays concerns in that area, or in the area of family and divorce. its a historical document thats worthy of conversation, but man i wish films like alien, the muppet movie, the warriors, and the jerk had gotten even a portion of the acclaim that this got at the time.