Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies ever made...
Review: When you have writing, acting and directing like this, you don't need car chases or nudity or explosions. THIS movie is what real movie-making is all about. If you haven't seen it, go rent it today. For a couple of hours, you'll be transcended into the world of a tormented family. It is both horrible and beautiful to watch as the truth of their inner demons come closer to the surface, culminating in healing for some and painful self-awareness for others.Redford, Moore, Sutherland (why this man not even nominated for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor is a travesty), and Hutton (who deservedly won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) have created one of the finest films ever made. When I saw it upon its release many years ago, I left the theater mentally and emotionally exhausted. It is one of the few movies I can watch over and over and never tire of it. Should be in everyone's video library.
Rating:
Summary: I have seen this movie over 80 times
Review: This movie is my favorite movie of all time! Mary Tyler Moore gives the best performance of her career. I have seen this movie numerous times and I have yet to find a single flaw in any frame. I recommend Ordinary People for any collector of great films.Robert Redford's directorial debut is a perfect one. I am so glad that the DVD format will be available.I already own two VHS copies.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Piffle
Review: Well-intentioned and almost certainly heartfelt, "Ordinary People" is reasonably entertaining crap. Stodgy, square and reeking of respectability, it nevertheless has an undeniable emotional pull. If you'll meet it half way, you can expect a good cry. But it's crap just the same. Aside from a few memorable performances (notably Judd Hirsh's affable shrink and Meg Mundy's subtle, hilarious turn as Mary Tyler Moore's dragon of a mother), the acting is almost uniformly bad -- obvious, self-conscious and "Serious." (Worst is MTM, who gives a performance of surpassing obtuseness.) Timidity and solemnity inform every camera angle, prop, set decoration, line of dialogue. Redford's idea of seriousness, of tastefulness, leeches the vitality out of everything he touches. "Ordinary People" is so dreadfully tasteful that it achieves its own form of vulgarity. (Marvin Hamlish did the score; the main theme is Pachelbel's Canon; it is SUNG during the opening titles.) Redford records events as an outsider; he's a diligent, uninspired anthropologist: his method is clinical, bloodless, but not especially observant. He tells us little enough about these people, none of it new, but manages nonetheless to get it all wrong. Yes, of course, many "nice" upper-middle class families are emotionally crippled -- nobody would disagree that the price of gentility is a certain amount of emotional repression. That's what good manners are all about. As an outsider, Redford attempts to remain above the fray, but at the very end, succumbs to the disastrous urge to choose sides: these aren't real people after all -- they're heroes and villains, just like in the movies. His heroes, to be sure, have a few attractive warts to give them a becoming vulnerability, but his villains are entirely bad -- evil, dishonest, selfish, narrow-minded, callous, dangerously psychotic liars. They're all warts and no vulnerability. They're not ordinary; they're not even people.
Rating:
Summary: Ordinary People
Review: Even after 20 years, Ordinary People remains the best family drama ever made. Remaining very faithful to the wonderful Judith Guest novel, and brought to life with the superior acting performances from the entire cast (especially a change of pace role for Mary Tyler Moore, who was robbed of the Oscar for her chilling performance), Ordinary People will make you reexamine your own family - and realize how lucky you are. Yes, American Beauty is the Ordinary People of today, but Ordinary People remains to haunt our minds long after the final credits role.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly poignant
Review: "Ordinary People" is an insightful and profoundly moving exploration of how tragedy impacts lives and the different ways people channel and deal with their sense of grief. It's a film that uncovers the facade of middle-class America, and reveals the emotional distance and spiritual emptiness that plagues families who seem to have it all. What makes it work so brilliantly is the richness of the emotional nuance, there are countless moments within the film that resonate deeply with truth about the dynamics between husbands and their wives, parents and their children, it's virtually impossible not to connect with the story and the characters portrayed. Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton are both exceptional in their roles, but I was really surprised with Mary Tyler Moore's enormously affecting portrayal as a woman whose aloof facade is slowly starting to dissolve. "Ordinary People" successfully avoids falling into melodramatic pitfalls, instead it unfolds an authentic picture of suburban life without compromise, and that why the film leaves such an indelible impression. If you're looking for the kind of film which evokes both the mind and emotions, see "Ordinary People", it's one of the best dramas I've seen in years.
Rating:
Summary: Good... but not Oscar good.
Review: Ok, so I watch this film and it was ok. That's all it was, just ok. Maybe if Robert De Niro was in it and if it was about boxing then maybe, just maybe I would give it five stars. How this film won an oscar over a masterpiece such as Raging Bull is just beyond me. It makes me frustrated. So frustrated that I have to go steal things from the C store. My advice to you if you actually want to watch this film is to pick up a copy of Raging Bull and after watching both ask your self which was really oscar worthy? (if you say Ordinary People than please jump off of nearest cliff possible)
Rating:
Summary: One of top 5 all time geat films
Review: Do not miss this film. It is a perfect film. I have seen it 20 times and it never loses its power. Timothy Huttongives one of the all time great perfomances.
Rating:
Summary: My All Time Favorite
Review: The first thing I did when I got my first VCR was buy "Ordinary People" on VHS. This is a movie for anyone who has ever dealt with the stigma attached to clinical depression; for me, this movie is like therapy, and I watch it at least once a month. For those who like American Beauty, they will like this more subdued version of the "Classic American Family" internally destroying themselves for an image.
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Summary: 'Ordinary People' Is An Extraordinary Film!
Review: 'Ordinary People' is one of the best 'family dramas' that really delve into the inner-motor of a dysfunctional family. A searing drama that is intensely involving and emotionally jarring. Part of it's success is due to the powerhouse performance by the three leads; Donald Sutherland as the caring father, Mary Tyler Morre as the emotionally distant mother, and especially Timothy Hutton as the troubled son of the family that has suicidal tendencies. It also offers an extraordinary screenplay, stellar supporting cast (kudos go to Judd Hirsch as the eccentric psychiatrist), and taut direction by Redford. The scenes where Timothy Hutton gets to shine (spilling his guts out with the psychiatrist, etc.) are intensely moving, and so are the quietly powerful scenes between Sutherland and Tyler Moore. A brilliant film that is expertly acted and powerfully moving. A gripping drama that really pays off. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 9!
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary movie
Review: A truly wonderful movie. Deals with everyday people who are facing some really tough times. Comes off best when the film centers on Sutherland's desperate desire to hold his family together by trying to reach out to his troubled son. The ending is perfect, not to sentimental but surely some tears will fall. Probably the best film of it's period to deal with human emotions, the longing for being loved and the desire to keep your family together in some sort of harmony.
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