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This is the first of Phil's movies I remember seeing. In other words, it was the first time I took notice of him onscreen and scanned the credits to find his name. His was a smallish role, but a somewhat pivotal one, which he filled with amazing humanity and realness (as always).

The story focuses on the relationship between Alice (Meg Ryan) and Michael Green (Andy Garcia), a loving and sexy married couple with one big problem -- her alcoholism. On the surface everything seems great. Michael is an airline pilot who travels frequently and Alice is a school counselor. They have a fabulous house in San Francisco where they are raising their two young daughters, Jess (Tina Majorino) and Casey (Mae Whitman). But this idyllic life begins to crumble quickly as Alice's drinking becomes increasingly out of control.

Ever the problem-solving husband, Michael finds Alice a rehab clinic and checks her in, telling her to be strong and everything will be okay. Alice has a rough time in detox, but to Michael's misunderstanding it is only the beginning of a long and difficult recovery for his wife. He brings the kids to see her at the clinic one day and he meets a number of her new friends. Enter Philip Seymour Hoffman as Gary, a young recovering addict. My first thought was "Oh, who is this actor? He's really cute." Gary is a sweet and sensitive young man who is obviously struggling with his recovery. He interrupts Michael and Alice and asks if he could speak to her for a minute. There is a nice moment as Alice comforts Gary and listens to his problem, beyond listening distance but within Michael's view.

Alice returns home but things are definitely not the same. She rebuilds her relationships with her daughters, but her marriage is falling apart. Ryan and Garcia do a nice job of presenting real and complex characters. As Alice has her bad and worse days, Michael doesnít understand why things arenít back to normal. One evening Michael returns home to find Alice and Gary sitting close, laughing and talking. Itís another great moment beautifully and effortlessly performed by Mr. Hoffman. Gary sits in a big chair with his shoes off and feet up on an ottoman. Alice sits on the ottoman facing Gary. They smoke and talk, sharing their stories of how they are getting through the early days of recovery. When Michael walks in they get up to greet him. Gary is friendly and sweet, and he is obviously doing better than when he was in the clinic. But Michael is cold and silent. Gary feels the chill and leaves, pulling on his shoes, grabbing his coat, and apologizing as he hugs Alice goodbye.

We continue to watch the ups and downs of Alice and Michael's marriage as well as the ins and outs of recovery. Both characters endure the painful changes that occur in their individual lives and in their family's life. If you've ever been close to someone with an addiction, you'll see many similarities to yourself and your loved one in Alice and Michael. It's hard to believe that Al Franken (one of the co-writers of the screenplay) could be a part of writing something so serious and heart wrenching. But hang in there, this story does have a happy ending (as most Hollywood movies do). Too bad Phil doesn't make another appearance.

Like I said, this was the film that introduced Mr. Hoffman to me and made me want to look for him in other movies. He was so wonderful in this small role that I knew even then that we'd be hearing a lot more from him in the future. The only bad part was his smoking & I really hate smoking.

Out of 5 stars, When a Man Loves a Woman gets 2.75 from me. Not a bad rental choice if you can't think of anything else to get at Blockbuster.

-- Martha

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This page last updated July 21, 2002