Customer Reviews
Excellent portrayal of the strength of love - By: p.newhouse@bushinternet.com, 28 May 2002 
A study of how a family of different characters copes when their younger son goes missing, & how they remesh later on. The relationship between the two sons is sensitively explored, & breathtakingly moving & understated. Look out for Ryan Merriman, who plays Sam Karras/Ben Cappadora - he gives a very believable performance. A great character study. Not mushy. Not schmaltz.
A Film of powerful and kaleidoscopic emotions - By: , 17 Mar 2001 This powerful film produces a kaleidoscope of emotions in the viewer. It is humorous, thrilling, warm & compassionate. From the beginning of the film, which is wonderfully filmed, you are transported into the lives of the family. You feel their emotions in an almost empathic way. You suffer in their pain & rejoice in their joy. This is one to watch on a cold winters night, snuggled up with someone special or your favourite teddy bear & a big box of tissues & long glass of red wine. It stays with you for a long time & is a film that you can watch over & over.... with the same someone special, or perhaps another someone special. Enjoy you will!.
Heart-breaking tale of loss, love and regret - By: , 09 Aug 2000 
Michelle Pfeiffer gives a career best performance as Beth, a successful photographer- with a young family. While she is at her high school reunion, her three year old boy, Ben disappears. Every mother's nightmare comes true for Beth. Ben is gone & following a relentless search- with no stone left unturned... Ben is not found. Then years later, with help from a determined detective (played with verve by Whoopi Goldberg)- alll kinds of startling facts about Ben are uncovered. The grief & loss that the family have shared for many years is bought to the surface once more as they must deal with the new revelations & face ghosts from the past.
This may sound like a TV movie but thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer's heartbreaking performance & the tightness of the script, the film never transcends to TV movie hell. You will believe Pfeiffer's sense of loss & sheer determination. You feel anxious when the child goes missing as you know that he could be gone forever.
There is humour provided by Whoopi Goldberg in a smalll but pivotal role as the detective who helps Beth comes to terms with her loss by refusing to let her give up. Treat Williams is also quietly impressive as Beth's husband- he believes that the child's disappearance is her fault & this leads to emotional confrontations- this is when these two actors reallly excel. You reallly do feel their pain.
The Deep End Of The Ocean is a rare film that makes you care about the characters & it makes you think about how you would react to the young family's plight if it were your child or sibling that went missing- how would you cope? Who would you blame?
This film has been largely ignored & deserves to be seen. Buy it & then wonder why Michelle Pfeiffer's work, of late is largely ignored. She is one of America's most under-rated actresses' & this is a severely under-rated movie gem.
