es to climb in the crib with her when she fears the sleeping baby may have died from crib death (Simon, 1984). The scene is repeated somewhat after her husbandÆs death when Emma is five years old, and after the funeral, Aurora climbs into the girls bed even though Emma says she does not need to sleep with her mother: Aurora needs to be needed. Later, she refuses to go to her daughterÆs wedding because she feels Emma could have had a much better prospect for a husband than the college professor, Flap, whom she marries (Kauffmann, 1983).
The film jumps in fits and starts, with gaping holes in the story. Kauffmann (1983) attributes this to James L Brooks, the screenwriter/director/producer of the movie, who has done most of his writing in television, and gives the film the feeling of a soap opera. Aurora is angered when Emma announces her pregnancy and she will become a grandmother. Next we see Emma, Flap and the toddler off to Iowa where Flap has a teaching job. Then there is another child, and when the two boys are about four and 10, Flap starts coming home late, and Emma wonders if he is having an affair. Emma herself begins an affair with a lonely banker with a sick wife, more out of need than revenge. Along comes a third child, and shortly thereafter, Emma catches Flap and a student on campus, though it is not clear if they are having an affair, or if the girl is just flirting with him. Emma takes the baby from him and storms off, returning home to Aurora in Houston with the three kids. Aurora, meanwhile, is now having an affair of her own with Garrett (Jack Nicholson), an over-the-hill, womanizing, drunken ex-astronaut living next door. Garrett stays away while the family is home. Emma reunites with her childhood friend, Patsy, back from a failed marriage in Los Angeles. When Aurora lays eyes on EmmaÆs baby daughter, you can see the cycle starting over again for her: a new daughter to try to control.
Emma s...