''The War at Home'' is a 1996 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by and starring, and co-produced by

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Br ...

. The film also stars Kathy Bates and Martin Sheen. Writer James Duff adapted his 1984 play ''Home Front''.

Plot

Jeremy Collier is a returning

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

hero whose experiences leave him unable to adjust to the quiet realities of small-town life. Bob Collier, Jeremy's father, expects his son to go back to his life as it was, without understanding the problems of

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

. Jeremy's mother, Maurine, treats him "like he's a 10-year-old," and seems to think he should forget about his war experiences. His sister Karen is more understanding of his readjustment problems, but their father doesn't want her to help her brother. When the family's

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

celebration occurs Jeremy refuses to put on his "nice" clothes and instead decides to wear his combat uniform and medal. At the conclusion of the Thanksgiving celebration, Jeremy pulls his handgun on his father and his family, explaining the hate he feels for his father because he would not lend Jeremy money to leave the country to escape the draft.

Cast

* Kathy Bates as Maurine Collier * Martin Sheen as Bob Collier * Kimberly Williams as Karen Collier *

as Jeremy Collier *

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001� ...

as Melissa *

Lane Smith Walter Lane Smith III (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was an American actor. His well-known roles included newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', Walter Warner in ''Son in Law'', coll ...

as Majoree's husband * Corin Nemec as Donald * Ann Hearn as Professor Tracey * Penelope Allen as Majoree

Production

The film was made for $3 million, following a deal Estevez cut with Disney (who would later under-promote the film) to appear in '' D3: The Mighty Ducks'', and was distributed by

Touchstone Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Inc. was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featu ...

. The soundtrack is faithful to the time period, using music from artists such as

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song " For What It's Worth", r ...

, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Singer Jena Kraus is featured singing a folk version of the song " Me and Bobby McGee".

Release

The film was released in theatres on November 20, 1996. It was a box office failure, grossing only $43,000.

Home media

The film was released on DVD in the US in September 2002.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports a 60% approval rating based on 15 reviews, with an average score of 5.83/10.

Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013. Career She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mo ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' gave the film a B- and said, "The Vietnam-flashback material doesn’t resonate as sharply as it did when screenwriter James Duff first presented this as a stage play in 1984. But with Sheen doing a nice turn as a bewildered Dad and Kathy Bates such a nerve-rattling force as the kill-em-with-cleanliness mother, the agonized family dynamics are effectively awful."

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' remarked how familiar the premise was, but that the film "still finds moments of wrenching sadness in its microscopic examination of an all-American family torn apart by the Vietnam War," and praised the performances and themes.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:War At Home, The 1996 films 1990s war drama films Touchstone Pictures films American war drama films 1990s English-language films Vietnam War films Films scored by Basil Poledouris Films directed by Emilio Estevez Thanksgiving in films 1996 drama films Films about veterans Films about post-traumatic stress disorder American films based on plays 1990s American films