Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 37
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 5
The divorce subject isn't as shocking, but the film is still a thoughtful, well-acted drama that resists the urge to take sides or give easy answers.
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 2
The divorce subject isn't as shocking, but the film is still a thoughtful, well-acted drama that resists the urge to take sides or give easy answers.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 41,240
My Rating
Movie Info
Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jilted husband learns how to be a nurturing father. Manhattan housewife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her workaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman), leaving their young son Billy (Justin Henry) in Ted's less than capable hands. Through trial and error, Ted learns how to take care of Billy, devoting more energy to his family than to his
Dec 19, 1979 Wide
Aug 28, 2001
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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Cast
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Dustin Hoffman
Ted Kramer -
Meryl Streep
Joanna Kramer -
Justin Henry
Billy Kramer -
Jane Alexander
Margaret Phelps -
Howard Duff
John Shaunessy -
JoBeth Williams
Phyllis Bernard -
George Coe
Jim O'Connor -
Bill Moor
Gressen -
Howland Chamberlain
Judge Atkins -
Jack Ramage
Spencer -
Jess Osuna
Ackerman -
Nicholas Hormann
Interviewer -
Ellen Parker
Teacher -
Joe Seneca
Partygoer -
-
Shelby Brammer
Ted's Secretary -
David Golden
Grocer
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All Critics (37) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (5) | DVD (13)
It's an interesting movie to look back on for its attitudes: In the guise of being a consciousness-raiser it plumps for male tenderness and demonizes the mother who can't recognize how far her workaholic ex-hubbie has come.
Top CriticKramer Vs. Kramer is a perceptive, touching, intelligent film about one of the raw sores of contemporary America, the dissolution of the family unit.
Benton's direction must first be praised for his choice of actors and his collaboration with them.
Benton gives his film its depth and complexity by challenging the audience's preconceptions and snap opinions at every turn.
Kramer vs. Kramer is definitely a movie to watch together -- your kids may well seek shelter under your arm, glad to know their own families enjoy more peace.
Misogynistic claptrap.
Like a few other recent movies, it takes a serious look at problems faced in real people in real life -- family conflicts, personality problems, childrearing dilemmas.
Benton's Oscar-winning film, a middlebrow family melodrama, well acted by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, reflected the new positions and struggles of women in American society.
Everything is handled with grace and compassion.
it remains one of the most compelling films of the decade, even if time has tarnished a bit of its sheen.
Oscar-dominating 1970s weepie that is just waiting to be rediscovered.
Hugely popular on its initial release, this looks, in retrospect, like nothing much more than a glossy soap passed off as serious drama.
This excellent struggle of a dad to keep his son by his side is a pure classic, with Hoffman at his best.
Another in a long list of those overrated Oscar winners for Best Picture.
A movie that makes you think about the relevance of the thought that only mother's make great single-parent adults.
It's the old wash, but so well done that we can overlook Benton's manipulations of our emotions and let our feelings flow.
Set up to make Hoffman seem like the good guy, and it's so confident that we'll root for him that it gets sloppy.
Audience Reviews for Kramer vs. Kramer
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Billy Kramer: I like Boston.
- Ted Kramer: Boston? Why do you like Boston?
- Billy Kramer: 'Cause Mommy's from Boston.
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- Ted Kramer: Is that what you think? No. That's not it, Billy. Your mom loves you very much... and the reason she left has nothing to do with you. I don't know if this will make sense, but I'll try to explain it to you. I think the reason why Mommy left... was because for a long time... I kept trying to make her be a certain kind of person. A certain kind of wife that I thought she was supposed to be. And she just wasn't like that. She was... She just wasn't like that. I think that she tried for so long to make me happy... and when she couldn't, she tried to talk to me about it. But I wasn't listening. I was too busy, too wrapped up... just thinking about myself. And I thought that anytime I was happy, she was happy. But I think underneath she was very sad. Mommy stayed here longer than she wanted because she loves you so much. And the reason why Mommy couldn't stay anymore... was because she couldn't stand me. She didn't leave because of you. She left because of me. Go to sleep now because it's really late, okay? Good night. Sleep tight
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- Billy Kramer: We need cereal.
- Ted Kramer: Okay, what color?
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- Joanna Kramer: I want my son!
- Ted Kramer: You can't have him.
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- Billy Kramer: I hate you!
- Ted Kramer: And I hate you back, you little shit!
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Perhaps it takes becoming a parent to truly realize the stakes of a movie like Kramer vs. Kramer. There are few things more powerful than the love a parent has for their child (I know I would without hesitation give my life for my daughter, and even a thought of some harm be-fouling her can put literal, physical tears in my eyes almost in an instant), and yet as parents, we are capable of so much destruction in these little lives. The extent to which we can emotionally cripple our own offspring is both shocking and horrifying. They're little people, very small physically, and sometimes it's easier to ignore them while focusing on our own needs, and not even realize what it is that we're doing until it's too late. Even though I've never gone through a divorce, I can empathize with the emotions this movie projects. Parenthood is perhaps the less glamourous of the 'big emotions' that make for movie material (Death and Romantic Love usually get all the glory), but parenthood is just as powerful, just as devastating as any other great mystery of life.