Coming Home

Starring: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine
Directed by: Hal Ashby
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
1978

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:A woman (Jane Fonda) whose husband (Bruce Dern) is fighting in Vietnam befriends and starts to fall for a paraplegic (Jon Voight) soldier who has returned from the same war.

Review:

Tim: Man, I just did not get Coming Home. I know the film was well received by critics and won several Academy Awards. I know it's an unflinching look at the life of soldiers upon returning home from fighting in the Vietnam War. I know it's a love story set against historical times. I know it features two really good performances by the leads. And yet, despite my head telling me this is a solid movie, I just could not get into the movie at all. I didn't connect with the characters and never felt any real interest in the story. At 127 minutes, it took a herculean effort for me to sit through this film. Maybe I missed something, but I didn't especially care for this movie.

I knew nothing about this film going in, other than it won some Academy Awards. So, I had very few expectations coming in. The film starts out looking at the marriage between Jane Fonda and Bruce Dern. We don't really get much time with them at all, so I never felt any connection with them. I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about them- were they a good couple, did they have problems? Very quickly, Dern is shipped off to war, so his eventual fate is uncertain. At that point, Fonda meets Jon Voight and they start to develop a relationship. I suppose I enjoyed them together, but I never felt like the film convinced me why they would fall in love. What was it about each of them that drew them so powerfully together? Was Fonda just missing her husband and didn't care who she shacked up with? I can't imagine that's it, but I have no sense of what was in it for her. Did Voight really love her, or was he just happy a pretty girl overlooked the fact that he was in a wheelchair? I was just unclear about the motivations of the characters. I don't think it was above me, I just don't think the movie did a great job of conveying all that information to me. Without being clear on the motivations, I didn't really care about any of the characters or what happened to them.

The actors were pretty good, I suppose. Like I said, I didn't buy their characters, so the performances felt a bit wasted. Jane Fonda was good, I guess. Honestly, she did nothing that me feel especially impressed with her. I have to say I'm a bit surprised she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Personally, it feels like someone else had to have given a better performance in 1978. Jon Voight was better, and I felt more closely connected to his character than anyone else (but not that much, anyway). He was in a really tough situation and it was interesting to see his bravery and his eventual move into protesting Vietnam. He was good, but I have to say I'm a little surprised he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. I can see his win more than Fonda's, though. Bruce Dern gives a good supporting performance as well- he received a nomination, but not a win. The same thing for Penelope Milford- good performance, Best Supporting Actress nom, no win.

I wonder if audiences were caught up in the real world events that were depicted here. The Vietnam War ended in 1975, and this movie came out three years later. This is a very timely look at a time that was incredibly important and hard for Americans. I love that this was an important movie- it tackled the tough subject of American soldiers returning home from war, broken and struggling to put the pieces back together. That's the best part of the movie- the time period it is depicting. This is an important movie, although I can't say that it is an especially entertaining movie. For me, the message was clear, but I wasn't in any place to hear it- I was just waiting for the film to end.

I feel bad that I didn't like this movie more, but there was so little to keep me engaged. It felt like the romance was forced and the end of the film was a bit unsatisfying. If you lived through this time, you might say that this movie was incredible because of how accurately it portrayed this period of American history. I wouldn't disagree with you too loudly, but for me, I just did not like Coming Home very much at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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