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Rating:  - Good chemistry. Fascinating and satisfying.
It captured my attention from the first and held it all the way through. Not only the chemistry between characters, but also between the musical score and the video, makes this one of my all-time favorites. The music stays with me long after seeing the movie, like the music in Truffaut's "Shoot the Piano Player."
Men and women both love it.
Rating: - Best Picture of 1983.
This film won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress(Shirley MacLaine), Best Director(James Brooks), and Best Supporting Actor(Jack Nicholson). The script is outstanding, based Larry McMurty's novel, with each and every character coming across as very believable and very human(i.e. "flawed"). It is so easy to identify with all of these characters, with the entire cast of actors showing up for even the smallest of roles and nailing the part. Included in the cast are Debra Winger, John Lithgow, Jeff Daniels, and Danny DeVito; but the entire cast shines (even the checkout girl in the shopping market) which makes this film especially noteworthy. But the shining stars of this film are undeniably Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson. Shirley MacLaine finally recieved an Academy Award for her incredible work here showing amazing depth of character development. Jack is, well, charming as usual; devilish and sly, and has many of the best lines in the film. When Shirley and Jack have scenes together, however, they show some unparalleled chemistry and some of the finest character interplay ever brought to the movie screen. They are simply superb! Director James Brooks shows for the first time how he can manipulate actors to give fantastic performances. In 1987 he did it again with "Broadcast News," which received 7 Oscar nominations(3 for acting), and in 1997 he brought home Oscars for Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson (again) for "As Good as it Gets" (Greg Kinnear received a nomination, as well). If you love great acting then "Terms of Endearment" should be in your collection. This is an exceptional film.
Rating: - A QUIRKY, SPRIGHTLY, HEARTWARMING CLASSIC.
Terms of Endearment so immaculately sketches its sprawling arc of idiosynchratic characters and moods that it is nothing if not a wholesome epic due to its sheer dramatic scope. Right up there whenever I think of memorable gems of all time.
We ambitiously traverse a daunting 25 years or so of a vagarious (and hence normal, loving) relationship between mother and daughter, some of which I admit are wrought with thinly veiled tear-jerking cliches, but the film does remarkably well with its intelligent pacing and a liberal sprinkling of good cheer.
Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Shirley Mclaine: need one say more! The riveting chemistry between a wine-n-women Nicholson and an eccentric Mclaine is reason enough to grab your own copy of this sprightly romp. Winger is ebulliently witty and sharp as ever. The twists and turns of the plot along with its razor-sharp dialogue more than make up for the occasional feather-weight moment that sneaked in.
Some reviewers make it sound like a four-hanky chickflick. I disagree, it's topnotch heartwarming drama with some fabulous performances from best stars of our time at the top of their game. I have seen it over half a dozen times and gone weak in the knees every single time. My vote: a true classic that deserves a proud slot in any self-respecting collection.
Rating:  - Somewhat cold, but still wonderful.
I saw this movie after I had seen Steel Magnolias, and to be honest it did not impress me as much as Steel Magnolias did. They are both classics in the film world, but I found Magnolias better and more heartwarming. Shirley Maclaine did a wonderful job acting in this film as the troubled mother of a sickly daughter. The movie comes together in the end but at some points the movie lacked that sense of heart and home that Steel Magnolias had. See it and make the judgment for yourself. I do reccomend it.
Rating: - Tear-jerker
Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger play mother and daughter who are alternately at love and war with each other as they go on the roller-coaster of life. On a routine visit to the pediatrician for one of her sons, Winger's doc is more interested in her swollen glands than he is in her son's ear ache - and the next thing we know, Winger's diagnosed with a terminal illness. The pathos is well played, and I challenge anyone to emerge dry-eyed from the scene in which she says good-bye to her sons, esp to the one who is so angry and uncommunicative.
Everyone comes thru in the end, including the lumpish ex-husband, and Jack Nicholson, playing a free-spirited astronaut who is MacLaine's love interest, deservedly won an Oscar for this performance.
Excellent book by McMurtry; great movie by James L. Brooks.
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